There are lots of top tips for planning your Disney Holiday. Join Jenny Powell as she shows you all the excitement that awaits every member of your family at Walt Disney World by clicking on the photo book. Then click the button below to meet Emma, their UK Disney Holiday Expert, in a series of videos to help you plan your holiday.

You need to register for one of the three events, which you can do at www.mydisneyworldplanner.co.uk

Sarah Brown did a little speech in the morning:-

Later Rachel Johnson talked about how bloggers had been responsible for her losing 12 columns in quick succession and warned of the dangers of writing about your nearest and dearest (but with no intention to stop herself at any time soon it seems). Here she is with my friend Jennifer Howze, one of the founder members:-

There were loads of sponsors and lots of swag to give away. This was my favourite stall though – details about holidays in Mauritius – which appealed more than the baby wipes and nappies I have moved on from I have to say:-

We managed to get a group photo of 5 out of the original Disney 7, with the gorgeous Sarah Hodson from Disney:-

I’m going to tell you everything I learnt about Twitter now because I have clearly been doing it all wrong……but I’ll put it on a separate post.

I had to rush from the airport to my son’s school to pick him up from his exam, laden with bribes – mostly from Hollister (primarily because by the time I’d finally got to the front of the queue to pay for the clothes, my very precious limited shopping mall time was nearly over). My mother has done an amazing job holding the fort and the kids all seem calm and happy. I am hoping that my decision that life is too short to miss “once in a lifetime” opportunities that come my way won’t come back to haunt me. I have to hold my breath now until mid February to find out if he’s passed his exam. Fingers and toes crossed then. How bad a mother will I feel if it goes wrong. But. I have come back with the Disney faith. It will not go wrong. His dreams (and my own) will come true.

ANYWAY. Home. Cold. Rainy. Grey.

How can everything already seem like a fabulous blurry dream?

I will write about the experience in due course. But in the meantime I wanted to say a big thank you to the lovely Sarah from Disney for including me on the trip and to Dave and Kate on her team and also to Phil from Virgin Holidays for co-hosting the event. I am still completely mystified as to why I was invited, but once I’ve read through the notes I took whilst meeting THE BIG CHEESE of Walt Disney (no, not Mickey Mouse) then I will perhaps have a better idea.

Here is a photo of some of the team sitting in a teacup for dinner (as you do) that made the trip so much fun. I will have to try and find a picture of all of us, but in the meantime:-

We met Tigger and Winnie the Pooh and Alice and Mary Poppins and, and, and:-

But I couldn’t bounce with him because I was too full.

Then most of the journalists went off to Disney’s Animal Kingdom, whilst I decided to check out what was on offer for the adults who don’t want to go on all the rides.

It was AWFUL. There is just NOTHING to do. I lay about here, reading my book in the glorious sunshine:-

Wandered around the shop and walked along their beach to the Spa. Then because my back was sore after the flight I went and found a lovely man called Dale who pummeled my Greater Trocanter and Piriformis muscle (aka my bottom) underneath a towel for quite a long time until I felt MUCH better.

Now I’m off to preview the new Wild Africa Trek which I’m really looking forward to.

Well, somebody’s got to do it…..

But you never know, perhaps I might get away with it without anybody noticing the mistake. I have seen the list of other people going now and it has become even more obvious that I shouldn’t be there because “Family Affairs” is stuck in amongst “The Sun” and “The Telegraph” and “The Mail on Sunday” and other such HUGE, PROPER publications. It’s just odd.

Then I had a text from the lovely girl who has invited me saying “what is the name of your travel blog again?” and I was thinking “SHIT – WHAT TRAVEL BLOG?? Where can I quickly find a travel blog? A “Family Affairs On Tour”?? They think I’ve got a travel blog”. But then I remembered that I sort of do. As a sub-section of my normal blog. So that should hopefully do.

For some inexplicable reason, I have been invited by Disney to attend the”Inaugural sailing” of their new cruise ship “Dream”, which just happens to be docked somewhere simply lovely – from my rainy, dark perspective. Initially, I told them that I wouldn’t be able to go. FAR too many responsibilities at home at short notice (aka somebody just dropped out). Kids, work, cats, cooking, obligations…..usual stuff. But when I was told it was to attend the christening of their new ship in the Bahamas, suddenly all my responsibilities and negative thoughts dried up before my eyes.

Last time I was invited I was convinced it was because they felt sorry for me. That same excuse could still apply. But this time, I’m not going to question their madness. I’m not going to question whether it is right for me to go. I’m not going to feel the need to justify my existence. I’m just going to keep quiet and go and enjoy myself with some new people somewhere hot.

The big party on board the ship is a themed “Pirates of The Caribbean” party. Secretly I am hoping that Johnny Depp will be on board to promote his new film. I am imagining our intimate chat – the one in which he tells me all about how his relationship with the stunningly beautiful Vanessa is over and that he is looking for an older woman with cellulite. He may possibly at this point tell me how attractive he finds a woman who can put her foot behind her head and I might be brave enough to have a go.

You see? What were they thinking. I am a liability.

The film is out this weekend in the UK. You must go. It’s great. In case you missed my review first time round, I’m just putting it back up fyi.

I thought it was brilliant – as did my children. Both unusual and magical.

The film centres around a lonely old man named Carl Fredricksen and a very keen little Chinese Wilderness Explorer called Russell who fly to South America in a floating house suspended from helium balloons – in a wonderfully glorious 3D spectacle.

The initial part of the film focuses on the early life of Carl and the loving, happy relationship he has with his wife, Ellie. In a surprisingly un-Disney like manner the film touches on infertility, disappointment, financial issues, illness, broken homes, ageing and death and in parts it felt touchingly real – well it all made me cry anyway.

Their big adventure in South America has plenty of excitement and quite a few laugh-out-loud moments. It is here that the odd couple embark on a thrilling “Raiders Of The Lost Ark” style drama, complete with rabid hounds, a psycopathic legendary explorer and a splendid multi-coloured pterodactyl type bird.

All good.

Take tissues if you cry in films.

We were sent the new “Toy Story Mania” game to review recently.

I have a special guest blogger to review it. TA DA! Introducing my 9 year old son:-

“Hi,

My mum has asked me to write about toy story mania. i think thats mainly because she can’t even turn the wii on

well what i thought was that it was very good but i prefer it when you can run around the place and i think it would be much better on Play station 3 but i really did like the idea of shooting throwing and all the fun activities it’s me who doesn’t really like it but some people will love it bye bye!!!!!!!!!!”

I think the general consensus amongst my three children was that it was a bit boring as a Wii game because unlike the original game in Disneyland, you remain stationary and simply point the console at the screen. Which doesn’t make it very interactive. They all commented that they would have liked to have been much more able to move around Woody’s bedroom and become part of it.

Have just been to see a preview of the new Disney film “Up”

I thought it was brilliant – as did my children. Both unusual and magical.

The film centres around a lonely old man named Carl Fredricksen and a very keen little Chinese Wilderness Explorer called Russell who fly to South America in a floating house suspended from helium balloons – in a wonderfully glorious 3D spectacle.

The initial part of the film focuses on the early life of Carl and the loving, happy relationship he has with his wife, Ellie. In a surprisingly un-Disney like manner the film touches on infertility, disappointment, financial issues, illness, broken homes, ageing and death and in parts it felt touchingly real – well it all made me cry anyway.

Their big adventure in South America has plenty of excitement and quite a few laugh-out-loud moments. It is here that the odd couple embark on a thrilling “Raiders Of The Lost Ark” style drama, complete with rabid hounds, a psycopathic legendary explorer and a splendid multi-coloured pterodactyl type bird.

All good.

Take tissues if you cry in films.

I was last at a Disney resort ©1900 and only remember “It’s A Bloody Small World”. I seem to recall that my mother was ill in bed and my father put me on one of those boats that took you around the “Small World” exhibit and then went off in search of a beer. Three hours later he still hadn’t found one. “It’s A Small World” has now become an iconic symbol of the Disney theme park because it was the first ride that started the whole thing off after Walt was asked to provide an exhibit for a World Trade Fair. It represents the spirit of international unity with the theme song focusing on global peace. That is all well and good, but it is still an atrocious song that sticks in your head, rather like dog poo sticks to your shoe and the dolls all still look like something out of a horror movie:-

However, I am relieved to report that (apart from “It’s A Small World”) Disney theme parks have dramatically changed since I was last there. Yes, there are still a few super-sized people eating buckets of ice cream with a spade (I kid you not – they cost $10 each). But there no longer seems to be the tidal wave of blubber there once was. The parks now offer a fantastic array of food, some seriously good restaurants and healthy options galore.

There are still the obsessive Disney fans:-

and the “just marrieds” who might have been taken to their ceremony in Cinderella’s carriage:-

and the “honeymooners” who wander around the theme park all day long wearing Mickey Mouse ears and a veil on their heads:-

“Magic Kingdom” was my least favourite of the four parks. This is primarily because it represents Disney’s fearsome global reputation in all it’s pink and fluffy glory. If it’s the Disney characters you’re after, this is the place. Every night Cinderella’s Castle is illuminated by a stunning display of fireworks, the “Wishes Nighttime Spectacular” where all your dreams can come true. My fellow bloggers were all moved by the experience, whereas I on the other hand felt as if I was watching money literally go up in smoke. I have always had a problem with fireworks. Gorgeous and twinkly as they are I can’t help but feel that building a bonfire of $50 bills and watching the flames would have pretty much the same effect. Especially in this current global financial crisis. I would like to see Disney taking a more responsible view and suggesting that owing to the credit crunch (of which they are clearly not immune) the fireworks will only be on every other night, or twice a week and with the money they save (I would hazard a guess at approximately £10k per night) they will make a donation to various children’s charities around the world instead. I think that might help ease their reputation for blatant profligate capitalism.

Having said all that, I did enjoy the street parades, (once I’d allowed my good old British cynicism to crack) because everywhere I looked there were people dancing and singing. I loved the fact that there were grandparents, parents and children all out together, just having a really good time:-

and the night time “SpectroMagic Parade” was all twinkly and sparkly:-

I have become an expert on Disney facts: the number of theme parks (4), the size of the resort (47 square miles), other recreational options, the number of hotels, prices, budget options, sizes of rooms, dining plans, facilities, new rides, getting in free on your Birthday and so on. Let me know if you want any of my new found wisdom or better still check out the details listed by all the gorgeous “mummy bloggers” I went with who will no doubt tell you far more about all sorts of things:-

Little Mummy
English Mum
Exmoor Jane
Are We Nearly There Yet Mummy
Got Our Hands Full
Dulwich Divorcee

In the meantime all I am going to do is very quietly admit to almost becoming a convert. I would definitely go back with my children and ideally I would hope that we could do a multi-generational trip and go with my parents and my brothers and their wives and children as there was definitely something for everyone (although still no beer for my father in the Magic Kingdom).

If we won the lottery I would stay at The Grand Floridian:-

and I’d lie on this beach all week and refuse to do anything else:-

Although my children would prefer to stay at the wonderful Animal Kingdom Lodge:-

and observe the giraffes from their bedroom.

I would take them to “Epcot”, the second park and go on a ride called “Soarin”” which made me feel as if I could fly and I would take them to talk to Crush the cool dude turtle from “Finding Nemo”.

I would take them to the “Animal Kingdom” where we went on Safari and obviously to the water parks because they’d love both.

I would go with them on “Expedition Everest”, the latest rollercoaster ride which goes forwards and backwards because I have discovered that I don’t hate rides as much as I thought I did, I would go on the Dinosaur ride because that was brilliant and the “Toy Story” ride (there’s going to be a “Toy Story 3″ Hooray!) and the “Splash Mountain” ride and the “Buzz Lightyear” ride and “Peter Pan’s flight” and “Finding Nemo” show and the 3D “It’s Tough To Be A Bug” show and “Muppet Show” and, and, and, because I haven’t scared myself shitless or laughed so much in ages.

I would go back again because when the sun is shining and you are surrounded by happy, giggling children or screaming at the top of your voice on a ride or watching somebody else get a kick out of it all, then just for a moment, nothing else matters. This is pure unadulterated make-no-apologies luxury enjoyment.

Something we all could do with a little of right now.

We’re all back. Safe and sound. Weary but happy. What a great week we’ve had. I must say a huge thank you to my brother and his fiance for making it possible for me to go, by moving in and looking after my children and also to all my lovely friends who helped out. Another huge thank you must also go out to Sarah, Head of Publicity for Disney, UK for inviting us all in the first place. She looked after us so well and wasn’t able to leave our side even for a moment, because we were so completely inept when left to our own devices.

How absolutely fantastic to meet six other bloggers in real life. There is something ridiculously liberating about going away with a group of women – all sans enfant, at the best of times. Well that, mixed with our common interest and being let loose in Disney World proved to be a lethal combination. It meant we all behaved like small children with Tourette’s Syndrome for the entire week. “Mommy Bloggers” are a big deal in the USA and consequently we were treated like royalty which shocked and amazed us – particularly given that I suspect we looked more like a group of psychiatric patients out on day release most of the time. We met up with some US “mommy” bloggers. They did not look like psychiatric patients. They were groomed and poised. They appear to rule the brave new cyber world of parenting. We all felt a little bit rubbish compared to them. They were all glamorous with business cards and books and impressive websites and we felt a little out of our depth. Nevermind. We shall work harder on our blogentation, but in the meantime we’ve invited them over to do a Disney Paris trip in the near future and then we’re all going on the Disney cruise ship shortly after that (I know you didn’t know that yet Sarah, but sorry, it’s nearly all arranged).

At the start of our trip I was a little worried that we were all going to be anti-social and blog at every given opportunity – this was what some of us started doing as soon as we sat down in the Virgin lounge at Gatwick airport:-

However, we didn’t really have much time to blog and instead I think the following photo best sums up how we spent most of the week:-

When I’ve got myself a little bit more sorted, I’ll let you know who else was on the trip with me and put up the links to their fabulous blogs. In the meantime, I am now desperate to see my children.