Tag: www.disneyparks.disney.go.com

America, Asia, South America, UK

Baby, you’re a firework

funtime65

Baby, you’re a firework, come on let your colours burst… as they might have sung back in 1605 to mark Guy Fawkes Day.

Well because we’re fortunate enough that Katy Perry lives in our age.

Then that’s what we all do when the sparklers, rockets, Catherine Wheels and Roman Candles fizz through the air.

In the UK in those areas where people don’t celebrate the burning of Catholic traitors or have got past 17th century history.

And just like a light show then today, Guy Fawkes Day, is a national fireworks spectacular.

Of course, not everybody, the passing of a queen apart, is obsessed with British history.

So we’re taking a look at where and when the world lets their colours burst.

Fire Eid

Sparkling: Eid

Eid, the Muslim world: And as you would expect in the land of the world’s biggest building, Burj Khalifa, Dubai reachest highest in the Muslim world for Eid.

There are also numerous shows and music concerts and the amusement parks go into overdrive.

Jewel of India

Light up: Diwali

Diwali, India: Now if we in Britain think that our skies are spectacular at this time of year.

Then it is nothing compared to India.

Diwali, the festival of light, has just been dimmed for another year.

But not before India lit up the heavens in style.

And the Indian diaspora around the world did the same as we’ve touched upon.

But we’re advised again that Amritsar and its golden temple shines brightest.

Disney lights

Da Mouse games: Disney

Disney (Orlando and Anaheim and around the world): Now while the cow is sacred in India, its Da Mouse who is the holiest of holy in Disney.

Fireworks are a staple at Disney where you can enjoy their nightly shows Four Seasons of the year…

Or whichever hotel you stay in.

Or when you stroll down Main Street USA you can sit on a grassy bank.

And take in Mickey in Da House or Potter magic.

And Christmas lights

Let there be light: Rio

South America: Now the party-loving Latin Americans aren’t the types prepared to wait for the new year to set off their fireworks.

It’s probably down to the weather which allows them to set off ‘little volcanoes’ firecrackers or sparklers known as ‘little stars’.

Fountains of light are also created in villages made of large collections of these ‘little stars’.

With Roman candles favourites over turkey sandwiches and pineapple juice in the evening.

Be a part of it

Let the ball drop: Times Square

New York’s New Year: And while we all have our traditions and claim ours is best.

And the Scots have their own name for New Year’s Eve.

Times Square, New York is the place to be for their famous Times Square Ball Drop.

We all have Adolph Ochs, owner of the New York Times, to thank.

And designer Artkraft Strauss (no, really).

Held annually on December 31 since 1907, and across a bunch of feelgood seasonal movies.

So, I think we can all agree, baby you’re a firework… all year around.

 

America, Countries, Europe, Flying

Flyday Friday’s beautiful beasts of the sky

funtime65

And I’m indebted to my pal Travel doyen and ITNN group editor Fionn Davenport for steering me on this one, as I revisit an old favourite, here’s Flyday Friday’s beautiful beasts of the sky.

The Airbus Beluga XL flew into Shannon Airport this week for some high wind testing.

In the belly of the whale

And got us all dreaming of riding the beautiful beasts of the skies again and reflecting on their eye-catching liveries.

So you say whale Fionn, well, I raise you a shark.

Oh, the Shark, babe has such teeth, dear

Embraer: This beauty has some bite, it’s the Embraer E190-E2 and it swallowed me whole in Ireland.

Sharks in Ireland? Well there are plenty in its parliament, the Dáil, but otherwise this is the closest to the Jaws of the sea that you’ll ever see there.

Of all the strange and wonderful mornings I spent in 13 years in Ireland the hours I spent flying from A-B, or Dublin to Waterford, on a shark is an experience I clearly never imagined having.

The beauty of the Embraer is not just on the outside with the interior spanking and with the best feature no middle seats.

Tiger, Tiger burning bright

Purrfect: The Aeroflot subsidiary

Aeroflot Siberian Tiger: The Russians, of course, are consistently in the world’s crosshairs.

So credit where credit’s due with Rossiya Airlines dressing its plane up as a tiger to draw attention to the plight of the Siberian Tiger.

In 2015 research showed there were only 500 left in the wild.

Panda air

Bear necessities: British Airways

British Airways: Now all of us here around Edinburgh where we have two beauts in the Zoo love a panda.

And so do British Airways who celebrated their route to Chengdu, home of the Giant Panda, marked the occasion with this livery.

Of course, Brits have a lot in common with pandas… sitting around all day doing nothing but graze and scratching our asses with sleepy black eyes.

Oh Mickey you’re so fine

Mouse tales

Now every mouse has a tail, obvs.

Mickey is always guaranteed to put a smile on your face and this is clearly what WestJet had in their mind with their ‘Magic Plane’ which features Our Mouse in his role of Sorcerer Mickey.

Or for big fans of Mickey you might say a Flight of Fantasia.

Tintin can

Shivering tailfins

And we are, of course, suckers for our hero, the adventurous young journalist Tintin.

Brussels Airlines are bigging up the famous Belgian boy on the back of the film Red Rackham’s Treasure and theres’ a submarine theme running through it.

We’d only hope Bianca Castefiore didn’t board. Her singing would shatter any window. 

Stars of the skies

The sky side

Star Wars: And, of course, you would expect Star Wars to be all over the skies.

And the never-ending franchise has plenty of images from which to pick, of course.

We’ll go with a favourite. Airline, that is, and United Airlines and its The Rise of Skywalker livery. 

Of Star Wars we know little but were there for its arrival at Disneyland in Anaheim and got to enjoy the galaxy far, far away.

Now everyone’s got a place in our choir, so whichever is your favourite, let’s get back on these beautiful beasts of the skies.

 

 

 

 

 

 

America, Canada, Countries, Culture, Europe, Ireland, UK

Ireland, the friendliest place in Europe

funtime65

Forget about that ridiculous ubiquitous Ed Sheeran,, Country star Steve Earle’s Galway Girl is the definitive tribute.

Some of my earliest longings and fumblings were for Galway girls, on holiday to a Salthill mobile home park.

Of course, in the late 70s and early 80s, the tradition for awkward, gawky Glaswegians was to sit in the corner and well, just gawk at the girls.

The Salthill Strand

Galway, this year’s European Capital of Culture, tops a Conde Nast Traveler Readers Choice Awards list of favourite cities.

And they’ll just love beating Dublin into second place.

The two Irish cities push the jewel of the Med, Valletta, into third.

The Maltese city boasts, for me, the most gorgeous harbour in the world.

And memories… I bent down there to tie my shoelaces 26 years ago, Miss F shouted Yes and one year later became the Indomitable Mrs M.

While my readopted city of Edinburgh also makes it onto the list at No.7 and the epic Athens at No.9.

Green Mickey

Ears to you, Mickey

Maybe y’all missed No Coal Burning Mickey, the eco-friendly alternative to Steamboat Willie, but Da Mouse is right on point with cleaning up the planet.

Mickey has come out on top of an Uswitch eco-friendly poll of the leading tourist spots around the world.

Who knew? Well, you do now.

Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney in Florida boasts a 270-acre 50+megawatt solar facility which operates enough sun to operate two Disney parks.

The solar facility has the power to reduce annual greenhouse gas emissions by more than 52,000 metric tons.

Which is equivalent to removing 9,300 cars from the road each year.

Of course the warmest thing you can get at Magic Kingdom is a Mickey hug. And here’s to when we can all repeat this.

And, of course, his is a hug that wraps around the world, from Florida to California, to Paris, to Hong Kong.

All our old faves are on the poll, Niagara Falls, our pals at Universal, Universal Studios Orlando, Universal Studios Hollywood and SeaWorld Orlando.

And the others we’ll get round to when we…

MEET YOU ON THE ROAD

Deals, Europe

Fairytale deals to Copenhagen

funtime65

Once upon a time there was an airline carrier which offered wonderful deals to Scandinavia.

But guess what we still live happily ever after with these deals from Scandinavia Airlines http://www.sas.com.

They offer Stockholm from €41, Copenhagen from €44 and Oslo from €37.

Our ship down there: MSC in Norway

We got our first taste of Scandinavia https://jimmurtytraveltraveltravel.com/the-call-of-the-fjords/ when we cruised around Denmark and Norway and got a tantalising look at Sweden on our MSC tour of the fjords… http://www.msccruises.ie and http://www.msccruises.co.uk.

Where we also popped in an old friend in Copenhagen … well, yes him. But him as well, my old university mucker American Tom.

Fairytale story: With Tom and The Scary One

It was invaluable having local knowledge for that day trip with Tom being able to show us where you can buy a coffee for under a tenner.

And also tell us which rides to go on and which not in the Tivoli Gardens http://www.tivoli.dk which we all know Walt Disney used as his inspiration for his Disney theme parks http://www.disneyparks.disney.go.com.

BTW I’m up there somewhere and did get a fabulous view of the whole of Copenhagen http://www.visitcopenhagen.com and our ship.

Tom knew all the cool parts, Vesterbro (you’re very welcome).

Dance away: In Copenhagen

Where local artists use industrial holders to play out their modern interpretative dance moves.

And yes Bandanaman was throwing some shapes from the back of the crowd too.

Sweden is tantalisingly close when you sail off from Copenhagen on your way to Norway.

And when you do visit Stockholm http://www.visitstockholm.com you will, of course, hit the dance floor at the ABBA The Museum http://www.abbathemuseum.com.

Munch break: In Bergen

And I will also catch up with my old friend Agnetha… though again not that one. A long story which I’ll return too. And a salutary lesson too!

But while we only dipped our toes into Denmark and barely at all Sweden we did jump in head first into the Norwegian fjords. And will be back.

Dahl boy: Norwegian landscape painting

And this time having sampled the art of Munch and the drama of Ibsen it’ll be full sail for Oslo… http://www.visitoslo.com.

Cruising in the fjords became popular in the 19th century through the works of Hans Dahl and there began an influx of tourists there on the back of it.

Mind you they would have got there quicker and cheaper with SAS.

Uncategorized

Cruiseday Tuesday – Disney on water

funtime65

What’s the difference between Walt Disney and Bing Crosby? Bing sings but Walt Disney.

That’s just one of the jokes you’ll hopefully not hear on this Disney cruise.

Forgive me for trotting out a Dad Joke but it’s just that Daddy’s Little Girl gave me a box of them for my birthday… and some of them aren’t even mine.

Being the big kid I am I’m one of those who still believes that Disney is the Happiest Place on Earth…. http://www.disneyparks.disney.go.com, http://www.disneyworld.disney.go.com, http://www.disneyland.disney.go.com.

Both when I visited Disneyworld and Disneyland https://jimmurtytraveltraveltravel.com/disney-why-i-love-the-donald/ and https://jimmurtytraveltraveltravel.com/2019/07/03/stair-wars-3/.

So what better match-up than my favourite holiday hosts and my favourite form of travel… a Disney cruise?

Cassidy Travel http://www.cassidytravel.ie is offering a seven-night cruise on Disney Fantasy from €7661 for a family of four of the Western Caribbean.

Visiting Mexico, Grand Cayman and Jamaica from Cape Canaveral.

There will be daily shows and activities, dress-up themed nights, fireworks display and kids’ clubs.

There is even a private island, Castaway Cay, with water sports and sandy beaches. 

And, of course, you’ll be sharing the ship with these guys…

Corphew

That water looks so still you could walk on it… the Aegean Sea that is.

So I tried, in Corfu, and ended up swallowing half of it, adding water skiing to a list of water sport calamities.

Which can only grow next week out in Tobago.

But I won’t have the Scary One to burp me like a new-born baby or like Jerry does to Tom.

Corfu is best admired from aboard a cruise ship with a stop-off.

And luckily enough TUI http://www.tuiie has just the thing.

They have a seven-night Marella all-inclusive cruise from €1339pps on June 26.

You’ll be staying in an inside cabin on the Marella Explorer as part of an Idyllic Italy tour. Buon Vacanza. Visit http://www.tuiholidays.ie

And for more couples’ frolics on the high seas here’s when I stopped the Scary One from ‘falling overboard!!! http://The Call of the fjords.

MEET YOU ON THE SEAS

Uncategorized

A picture of Diana

funtime65

It was another layer of poignancy to the death of Princess Diana that she should have lost her life in another country.

Because the Princess of Wales was an avid traveller, obviously in her official capacity, but as a wide-eyed adventurer.

The images of the royal on Dodi Fayed’s yacht off the French Riviera are reminders of that late summer of 1997, her last.

Our own summer holidays with The Son and Heir had been planned for Bulgaria for that first week in September.

A Diana fan: Photo by Matheus Ferrero on Pexels.com

In truth, I was glad to get away from the mass hysteria and national meltdown following her death.

I, of course, never knew the woman or met her. But the Irrepressible Miss F did have cause to take her picture and that of the other royals.

It was part of her job as a photo-journalist and with us working in the Royal County of Berkshire they were on our doorstep.

Winning smile: The Queen

And so it wasn’t an atypical day for Sarah to find herself photographing the Queen or Prince Philip while I might be covering the courts, council or a fete opening.

But she always approached these jobs with respect, the ways of the paparazzi were not then nor ever have been her modus operandi.

And she proved that she could capture the royals at their most relaxed and respect distances at the same time.

A different side: To Prince Philip

Of course these pictures taken from our scrapbook can never do justice to the real prints, but then that’s a hard screen and a blog for you.

Just a big kid

The pictures, of course that Diana most enjoyed were when she was with her beloved boys, Prince William and Harry.

Disney was a particular favourite and I dare say she would have loved what they are doing with Star Wars now https://jimmurtytraveltraveltravel.com/2019/07/03/stair-wars-3/.

While she was a big kid at heart and shared that with William, Harry, Mickey and Donald. Everybody should be, I certainly am http://Why I love the Donald. http://www.disneyworld.disney.go.com and

The Mouse. Photo by Skitterphoto on Pexels.com

Diana was pure Hollywood and they loved her and were she alive today I could imagine that she might have had a second home out there.

And perhaps a second husband.

Rest in peace

Often compared with Marilyn, not least through Elton John’s Candle in the Wind I’m thinking now of their similarities too.

I saw the impact such iconoclastic figures have when I visited Marilyn’s last resting place http://My Weekend With Marilyn.

Of course Diana’s is on her family’s estate which gives her in death the peace she latterly could not find in life.