Ships, castles and spas – passing through southern England and Wales COMPLETED - Page 11 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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Old 06-23-2015, 10:21 PM   #151
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Great stuff again and love all the characters and some of the amazing costumes! I certainly think you got your money's worth...and some with this exhibit as it is so well done! That's great that your such a fan of this show. I've been big fans of a few shows, but unfortunately they were short lived for the most part. The ones I can think of were "Freaks and Geeks", "The X Files" and "Twin Peaks" (created by David Lynch). The latter returning next year for a run on Showtime (US Cable station( next year and I can't wait! It's been 25 years, so should be interesting what they do with this!
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Old 06-24-2015, 01:25 AM   #152
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Great to see some of the costumes from past and present characters. How cool to see props and costumes from the new series. I love that even the bathrooms are themed!
That was very neat! I loved the fact they had stuff from the latest series, as I guess it means it's all fully updated once a year...
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Old 06-24-2015, 01:27 AM   #153
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Great stuff again and love all the characters and some of the amazing costumes! I certainly think you got your money's worth...and some with this exhibit as it is so well done!
Oh it was definitely great value!

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That's great that your such a fan of this show. I've been big fans of a few shows, but unfortunately they were short lived for the most part. The ones I can think of were "Freaks and Geeks", "The X Files" and "Twin Peaks" (created by David Lynch). The latter returning next year for a run on Showtime (US Cable station( next year and I can't wait! It's been 25 years, so should be interesting what they do with this!
Oh we used to love the X Files, it was such a great show.
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Old 06-24-2015, 01:30 AM   #154
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Thursday 11 June – part ten: you’d think this was for a real person….

We took our things back to the car, and I suggested that, as it was such a nice day, maybe we should walk over to the Millennium Centre, so we headed that way…



This is Cardiff Bay, and it was such a wonderful day, perfect for photos:



I was just saying to Mark that I could do with an ice cream, when he spotted an ice cream van, so we headed over there. My goodness, what a choice they had! It took us a while to decide, and we both went for a twin choc and nut one, and very nice it was too!



Once we were done eating, we carried on walking, and found the very differing buildings of the Welsh National Assembly…



I got some photos of Penarth across the bay…



We headed over to Mermaid Quay, which was really thriving today…



It reminded me of Oslo, and once again, I couldn’t get over how much Cardiff had changed. It’s a wonderful cosmopolitan destination today.

We were only here, as I noticed on Google Maps that it said “Ianto Jones shrine” and that intrigued me. Now Ianto was a character in Torchwood, a Doctor Who spin-off show, who got killed in the last season of it. Well all I can say is that, even as an avid Doctor Who fan myself (oh and Torchwood – that John Barrowman is lovely ), I was a bit stunned by all of this. You’d think this was for a real person….



We headed back towards the National Assembly…



… and then made our way over to the Wales Millennium Centre.



Now annoyingly, there was a van parked right outside it, which is why I got the shots I did. When it finally moved, I got up to get some photos, as did someone else, and he just said to me “were you waiting for it to move too?”



… and here’s the offending van heading off!



Next: dinosaur time!
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Old 06-24-2015, 08:56 AM   #155
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I guess that Ianto was a popular character.... weird though.
That is quite the destination! Looks like lots of shopping and restaurants.
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Old 06-24-2015, 01:01 PM   #156
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I guess that Ianto was a popular character.... weird though.
Well, let's just say I was sad when he died in the programme, but I had no idea it had such an impact on so many people...

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That is quite the destination! Looks like lots of shopping and restaurants.
The transformation in Cardiff is just unbelievable. We never made it to this part of the city the last time we were there, but my guess is that it probably didn't exist, given the Millennium Centre obviously opened around the time we were last there - I'm guessing we were last in Cardiff maybe 2001/02?
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Old 06-24-2015, 03:28 PM   #157
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That shine was interesting. It could almost be a prop from the show! Anyway, great pictures from the wharf!
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Old 06-24-2015, 05:44 PM   #158
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Cardiff really seems to be a clean and beautiful city.
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Old 06-24-2015, 10:11 PM   #159
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While neither of us are DW fans (sorry), my DH LOVED Torchwood!
I think Mermaid Quay also reminds me a bit of the Inner Harbor in Baltimore.
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Old 06-24-2015, 10:55 PM   #160
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Great shots from your walk about!
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Old 06-25-2015, 01:30 AM   #161
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Cardiff really seems to be a clean and beautiful city.
We thought so too.
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Old 06-25-2015, 01:31 AM   #162
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While neither of us are DW fans (sorry), my DH LOVED Torchwood!
Oh, I'd be interested to see what he thinks of the shrine...
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Old 06-25-2015, 01:40 AM   #163
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Thursday 11 June – part eleven: dinosaur time!

We made our way back towards the car, but didn’t get far, as I spotted a shop, and went to have a look in it. Well, it turned out that it was part of the Millennium Centre, so we got to see inside it.



We headed back, getting a few final photos on the way…



Now the plan had been to go to Tredagar House, but that was about 20 minutes away, and by now, it was about 2:45pm, and it would’ve been cutting it close to get there, and then get back for dinner and the cinema at 6:30pm, so we decided to head back to the hotel instead.

I was going to work on my trip report, but I didn’t get very far, as I got an email from Cirque du Soleil to say that tickets had just gone on sale for one of their shows that we haven’t seen. It’s in London in January and February 2016, so we managed to get two tickets, although they were expensive, shall we say?

We headed out again just after 4:30pm, and quickly made our way back to the St. David’s centre. We parked up, and headed downstairs, and over to Yo Sushi. Now I apologise for the lack of photos from this part of the day, but there was no way I was going to turn up at the cinema with my big camera, as I thought that might look a bit dodgy…

Anyway, we both enjoyed some sushi, and some California hand rolls, which we both like, and we also had some of our favourites – for me, aubergine (eggplant) salad and edamame for Mark. We certainly felt full when we were done there.

By the time we paid up, we still had another hour to kill before Jurassic World would be starting, so first we went to work out exactly where the cinema was, and how to get there. That done, we went and had a wander in the St. David’s Centre. We had a look in a couple of places, but didn’t buy anything. I have to say though I was very impressed by the fact they had a Hamley’s toy store (the famous one from London) and we spent a while in there, with me admiring all the teddy bears and soft toys they had.

We carried on walking, and I found a clothes shop that I regularly frequent, and I then found a top and a dress I liked the look of. I asked if I could take the items back to our local shop, given that a) I really didn’t have time to try them on and b) Mark was with me and was already looking miserable enough, so I figured trying clothes on would finish him off. She told me that was no problem, which was great, but then I ran into another issue. I’d removed my loyalty card, so I could travel lighter, and without it, I couldn’t get the 20% off, so they simply issued me with a new one, and I was sorted. I’m delighted to report that when I got back to the room later on, and tried both items on, they fitted fine.

We then headed back to the cinema. Wow, this really is some complex! It’s got 15 screens and is on four different storeys. Of course, ours was on the top floor, so we took the escalators up, and that took some time. We got a bottle of Diet Coke each and some ice creams, and headed in. Now I’d printed off my tickets from my online booking, and they scanned them, and took them, telling us we were in screen 12, seats G12 and G13. Now I was sure I’d got that in my head, but I wasn’t comfortable with not having the tickets with us.

We headed in there, and there were people seating in what I thought were our seats. Ok, now what? I went back to the entrance to ask for our tickets back, as I didn’t feel comfortable asking someone to move without actual evidence they were our seats. I got the tickets back, and went back. There was a son sitting there, who was a bit rude about it, but thankfully his father arrived back just as we were telling him what the problem was, and his father was very apologetic about it. They were apparently in row J, not G.

All sorted, we took our seats, and I have to say this was an awesome cinema! It really was like stepping into a TARDIS, as the place was huge! You enter quite low, and then you head up to your seats. Each row was a lot higher than the one in front, meaning if someone sat in front of you (no-one did in our case), you wouldn’t see their head at all. Usually, with our seats at our local cinema, they’re slightly tiered, but the top of people’s heads are in your sightline. Not here.

Equally, there was enough space for people to get out without you having to move at all, as they could just walk past in front of you. Thank goodness that was the case, as my goodness, I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many people getting up and down during a movie. We are not talking kids here either. There were a few kids, as it was rated 12A, i.e. all kids under the age of 12 had to be accompanied by an adult, and I didn’t see one of them move during the entire film. Instead, it was the adults, and in our row, it was the group of six teenage girls who were up and down throughout the movie. Honestly!

Anyway, what about Jurassic World itself? Well, once we got there (the adverts and trailers must’ve lasted more than half an hour ), it was 3D and it was absolutely superb. We both absolutely loved it, and said we thought it was better than the first three. I really found all the main characters easy to empathise with, and I felt they were all real.

What I really liked about it was that you weren’t straight into the main action, you had quite a chunk of the film where you were able to experience the park operating as it should be. This was beautifully done, and if Universal have the inclination, the money and the land at Orlando, then this could be the basis for an amazing addition to their park. I’ve always thought that they should have done more about Jurassic Park, and I hope this movie is the spur for them to do that, as I’m sure audio-animatronic dinosaurs would be just amazing…

The threat is there the whole way through the movie, but a lot of it is suspense, which I like, rather than violence. Sure, there are some violent bits, and certainly lots of action. I liked the fact that there was a lot of obvious dinosaur “fodder” in terms of characters showing up that you knew would be dying, which of course they then did.

When we came out, we both said that we felt as if we’d been on a rollercoaster, it had been so intense to watch.

We made our way back to the car park, heading into the entrance that you drive into, assuming that there would be elevators there, but there weren’t. A bit of a silly design, given that it was literally a few yards from the cinema. We heard some form of warning, and assumed it was telling us to get out, so we did, and made our way back through the shopping centre instead.

As we left the car park, we saw a stunning sunset, and thankfully Mark had his camera on him, so we pulled over, and I grabbed a couple of photos of it.



We made our way back to the hotel, and I grabbed another couple of shots on the way. Can you believe this was past 9:00pm by now?



Once our heartbeats had returned to normal from seeing Jurassic World, which took some time we then headed to bed, thoroughly exhausted, after a very packed, but wonderful day.

The weather today was sunny and hot at times, with temperatures in the mid 70s, but also windy at times when the sun went in.
The best thing today was the Doctor Who Experience!
The worst thing today was how tired we were by the early afternoon.
Today we tried visiting Cardiff Bay
And the result was it’s a beautiful part of the city.
The most magical moment today was seeing the soldiers at Cardiff Castle.

Next: no lie-in for us today then I guess…
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Old 06-25-2015, 01:41 AM   #164
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The last few photos do seem to be showing up as massive to me, but I'm hoping it's just my computer, as they are definitely the right size...
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Old 06-25-2015, 02:45 PM   #165
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Good thing you took that afternoon break prior to the movie. That was such a long day!
Glad you enjoyed the movie, I've heard lots of good things about it, even if it was a little predictable. Likely won't see it myself though.

Amazing sunset! Just for fun, I looked up Fairbanks, AK last Saturday and their sunset/rise this time of year at the solstice. Sun rise is like 230AM and sunset is 12:40PM or so. So it's only below the horizon for roughly 2 hours. Crazy!
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