#also major kudos to all the pose makers out there

[aheathen-conceivably]

Bright lights in an empty room... ✨

(Just outtakes from my last post because I made the pose myself and I'm pretty proud of her! Inspo below the cut for anyone interested.)

[gumnut-logic]

Fabio Blue Nose

Aaaargh, this was supposed to be a short, but it has demanded to be longer and I’ve run out of time. I did not want another WIP!

But anyway, here be Fabio Blue Nose, or a start of some kind at least. I hope you enjoy this random fluff so far.

Many thanks to @tsarinatorment​ and @janetm74​ for their support.

It should also be noted that no sea shanties were harmed in the creation of this fic. Nor are their any sea shanties in it, despite there being an urge to add one.

Aaaargh, it is 12.45am. I gotta go sleep, damnit.

-o-o-o-

The first time was an accident.

None of the brothers owned up to it but chances were it was Gordon, no matter how many times he swore complete innocence.

Though, come to think of it, Scott was rather more compliant than expected, so Virgil threw a little unspoken suspicion his way as well.

But anyway, it happened and it was a good thing.

There was always press at rescues that they could reach. Scott was fully aware of the importance of the media, particularly where communication and, to a certain extent, promotions were concerned. But when they got in the way of a rescue, the commander was well known to be intolerant.

This particular time, however, the press was managed by the GDF who were also onsite due to the scale of the disaster and possible sabotage, so International Rescue didn’t have to worry about them so much while they dug fifty miners out of a kilometre deep hole.

All but John were on the rescue. All but John were dirty, sweaty and ever so tired. There had been a chunk of rock that had needed demolition charges to get through, causing enough headache that even Virgil had been heard to spit profanity over comms when one of the charges misfired and nearly took his head off with shrapnel in the tunnel.

Eleven of the fifty men didn’t make it and there was some body recovery after the far too many trips it took to get them all back to the surface. In short, it had been an ugly, hard day. All the Tracys just wanted to go home and disappear into whatever distraction worked best for them.

Scott had to liaise with the GDF regarding red tape and reporting circumstances in the mine...that they should probably go down and see for themselves instead of relying on a civilian rescue organisation to do their dirty work for them. But whatever the reason, Virgil, Gordon and Alan were left to pack up and wait while all the dots and crosses were applied to appropriate Ts and Is.

It took longer than expected.

Virgil, sporting an aching shoulder, was reduced to pacing the length of Two’s open hatch. He should just take his brothers home and leave Scott to tackle the GDF.

But Scott was just as tired as they were and he had only just returned from another rescue when this callout came in. His big brother was exhausted and Virgil feared that if he left him behind they might end up a few GDF personnel short before the sun went down.

And the press were watching.

It was probably at this point the photo was taken.

It was iconic, even Virgil had to admit it. Emotive and made a statement about who they were and what they did.

The shot was from a forty-five degree angle, using a zoom lens that caught every detail of Two’s open module. Virgil stood in the middle of the ramp, paused mid-pace and staring off at something, probably Scott, in the distance. The shadow of Two in the evening light had his head in shadow, adding a heroic seriousness to his expression.

That alone was dramatic, but behind him from the camera angle, sitting on the top of the ramp to one side of the open hatch were Gordon and Alan.

Gordon had his arm around his little brother as they both stared in the same direction as Virgil. All three brothers were grimy and exhausted, Alan’s head was resting on Gordon’s shoulder.

It must have been an extraordinary lens to capture the detail because the media were fenced off a considerable distance away, but there was enough clarity to see one tear track in the dust on Alan’s face.

Their littlest brother claimed he had scratched his cheek, but they all knew better.

So, yes, this photo was taken and thrown across the planet as an illustration of three heroes of International Rescue.

There were rave reviews. Whole swaths of text praising everything their organisation did, what had been achieved that day and what had been achieved in the past. Inevitably, the history of International Rescue did the rounds again, their father’s legacy and all that. An unfortunate reminder of both the parents they had lost in the process. Being proud didn’t negate the pain that came along with it.

But due to the quirkiness of human attention, none of the above was the source of the impact the photo finally had.

It wasn’t Thunderbird Two or any of the three brothers photographed that captured most of the public’s attention.

It was a teddy bear.

Virgil kept a number of cuddly toys on Two. Some he had knitted himself, or purchased, a few were donated, but all were kept and given to children and occasionally adults, who were terrified during a rescue or evacuation and found themselves secured in Two’s module.

Perhaps the bear had fallen out of its storage, perhaps one of the brothers had shoved it aside. Whatever had happened, in the iconic photograph of three hardworking Tracy brothers, right at the back, inside the module sat a dark grey teddy bear with a blue nose and shiny eyes that caught the setting sun.

Staring right at the camera.

And the world went nuts for this bear.

It took less than a day for the fame of the teddy bear to become enough to alert Thunderbird Five and, in turn, roust Virgil out of bed - it’s lunchtime, Virgil, time enough to wake up.

Virgil’s answer to that was clear, precise and rated for adults only.

John triggered the coffee maker in the kitchen to start working its magic before his brother busted up something other than the English language.

Eventually, Virgil made it down to Two and dug out the bear responsible.

It was still sitting on top of the storage locker, which added kudos to Virgil’s flying skill.

He was going to shove it back into the locker when John asked him not to. Apparently, the bear had a following on social media.

So, Virgil picked it up and took it back up to the comms room. He placed it beside him at their father’s desk and pulled up a search screen and typed in ‘bear’ and ‘International Rescue’. He could, of course, ask John to forward him whatever his brother had obviously found, but he didn’t.

The search results that sprung up made it very clear that the world was most definitely obsessed with that bear.

There were zoomed in pictures of the inside of the module – a fact that had Virgil a little worried regarding security until he realised that anything that could possibly be compromised was just that little bit blurred. No doubt that was Eos at work. Probably snared the original photo before it could perpetuate.

But even then it was obvious that the posters had no interest in the technology. Several photos had the bear circled in red.

Various comments attempted to give reasons as to why the bear was there. The explanations were rather fantastical in the majority. A few were actually disturbing and linked Alan’s tear track to the bear – Virgil threw that bit of information at Thunderbird Five and that line of thought suddenly disappeared from the results. Some suggested the photograph was posed, a few mentioned that Thunderbird Two did carry such things and that was followed by a wave of genuine thanks and admiration for what they did…and then completely ignored when more fascinating ideas were presented.

Virgil was quite frankly amazed at what people could concoct from a photograph of a bear.

Said bear sat and stared at him the entire time. Its nose was very blue.

But ultimately the outcome that had occurred somewhere between all four brothers making it home last night and the time John dragged Virgil out of bed, Fabio Blue Nose had become a mascot for International Rescue.

Yes, ‘Fabio’.

Some inspired person had mentioned ‘F.A.B.’ as IR’s callsign and it went downhill from there.

Fabio stared at Virgil almost accusingly. His curly fur was a shade darker than Scott’s baldric and his eyes as golden as Gordon’s. His blue nose shone in the sunlight.

They had a teddy bear with a fan base, fan art and a dash of fan fiction.

Virgil caught his own name in one of them and shut it down so fast the browser crashed.

It didn’t help that an hour later Gordon found the same story and promptly paraded it around the villa for all to see and hear whether they wanted to or not. Apparently, because Virgil was the pilot of Thunderbird Two, Fabio was his crewmate.

A very heroic crewmate at that.

Could a teddy bear really rappel down a grapple like that?

He shook his head and threw a lounge cushion at his brother’s head. He really didn’t need to know.

But in any case, they now had a mascot that wasn’t Alan.

Gordon was hit in the head again for that assessment.

So, Fabio found his way to being sat on Two’s dash and accompanying them out on rescues.

The second photo was more than they had ever expected.

-o-o-o-

TBC?

[andraste-preserve-us]

Small Luxuries

Pairing: Margo Trevelyan x Cullen Rutherford

Warnings: mentions of past neglect. Detailed descriptions of pain of migraines and nausea.

A/N: inspired by the killer on-and-off migraine/bad tension headache that I’ve been dealing with for the past three days. If anyone has any suggestions on how to get rid of it, that would be lovely. This takes place just a few weeks after the Inquisition finds Skyhold. Cullen and Margo are becoming close, but Margo’s still in the habit of assuming she’s on her own when it comes to her own needs. Comments and kudos are greatly appreciated. Thanks for the read and enjoy!

Summary: Margo gets a bit of a wake-up call to start taking better care of herself. Also on AO3.

Margo knew without a doubt when she woke up that morning that the pain would be excruciating by mid-afternoon. The tell-tale tug at the back of her head warned her of an oncoming headache. She flopped onto her back and groaned, letting herself sink into the sheets of her large bed. The fire in her quarters crackled quietly and the sun shone through the large balcony doors. She smacked a hand over her eyes at the way the snow amplified the brightness. She wanted to just roll over and go back to sleep; maybe an extra hour would fight off the migraine she knew was coming. But, if the sun’s position in the sky was anything to judge by, someone would be knocking on her door for the morning meeting soon. She let out a huff of breath and heaved herself out of bed, praying to the Maker that it wouldn’t be as bad as she thought. Slowly, but surely, she began to get dressed and wash up.

She’d always gotten the occasional migraine. She was never sure why; it always just showed up once every few months. It would start off as smaller headaches a couple days before that would never last too long. The first day, it would be a minor ache that only lasted about an hour or so. The second day would be considerably worse, lasting longer, but still bearable. By the third, it would be similar to a tight band squeezing her head with a pinpoint of pain in the very back of her head, right in the center. Her whole body would ache along with it and the nausea it caused would make eating anything too flavorful impossible. She could feel the familiar heaviness of her body and churning of her stomach, despite it’s growls for food.

She watched in a daze as servants nodded to her and set a breakfast tray on her desk. She waited until they left to nibble on some food, but the flavors she usually loved set her stomach churning. She gulped down her water and forced a meager piece of bread down. She gently massaged a knot on the back of her head as she shuffled down the stairs.

Cullen watched Margo shuffle into the war room for the second time today. They’d already held a meeting this morning, but more news from the Western Approach had arrived that needed to be discussed immediately. He frowned as she took her place across from him. If he thought she’d looked unwell this morning, she looked like death now. The Inquisitor was a pale woman anyway, but the usual rosy tint to her cheeks was gone and her eyes were glassy and unfocused. She hadn’t looked completely well the past two days, either. He tried to catch her eye from across the room, but she kept her eyes fixed on the map in front of them.

Leliana and Josephine droned on next to him, but he barely paid attention to a word. Margo’s condition only seemed to worsen as the sun sank lower in the sky. He watched as she swayed and gripped the table for what had to be the tenth time, blinking profusely. He scowled; how could the other two women just keep going like they weren’t even noticing anything?

Finally—finally—Margo met his gaze. Her large, ocean-colored eyes were hazy and unfocused. She struggled to keep them open as she leaned heavily on the table. He tilted his head towards the door in a silent question, but she seemed to stare straight through him. She looked exactly like he felt when his lyrium withdrawal was hitting him hard. His heart hammered in his chest. Was she not eating enough? Or was it problems sleeping? Or maybe she was even dehydrated—

She fell to the ground with a sudden thud, drawing a gasp from Josephine. Cullen rushed to her side, vaguely aware of the two women hovering over him. He ripped off a glove, his mind going a hundred directions at once, and felt her pulse. It felt normal under his fingers, but that did little to relieve him.

Before he could say anything, Leliana said, “Josie, go get a healer. I’ll distract the nobles in the hall if you can get her to her quarters, commander.”

Cullen swallowed thickly and nodded before hoisting her up into his arms. How long had she not been taking care of herself? She got cold so easily that it was hard to tell if she was too thin under all the layers she wore around Skyhold. She looked tired frequently, so that could also pose a problem. His mind went through all the possible problems and solutions as he carried her through Josephine’s empty office. One of Leliana’s scouts stood by the door and nodded to him, opening the door.

“All clear, ser,” he said quietly. “Sister Nightingale says to move quickly.”

Cullen nodded, glancing down at the limp woman in his arms. The nobles made a ring around Leliana and Varric on the other side of the hall. He could hear gasps and laughter as the guards opened the doors to Margo’s quarters and Cullen slipped inside unnoticed.

A familiar voice guided Margo back to consciousness. She could feel soft sheets beneath her body, wincing as the pain in the back of her head screamed its ugly welcome.

“…be all right?” Cullen’s voice said from nearby.

“I believe so,” one of the healers, Vara, said from her opposite side. “She has no signs of fever. We’ll have to wait until she wakes to get a better idea of what’s wrong.”

Footsteps, then Cullen’s voice again: “Tell Cook to make her a strew or soup or something that’s easy on her stomach, maybe some bread, too. And plenty of water, maybe some herbal tea…”

Margo could practically feel Vara rolling her eyes at Cullen’s fretting. She would’ve been blushing if she didn’t feel like her head was about to explode. She slowly opened her eyes, blinking away the blurriness until Vara came into focus.

“Inquisitor?” she asked softly.

“Margo!” Cullen rushed to her side, making the bed bounce as he sat. She winced at the movement and he frowned. “Maker, I’m so sorry—”

“Cullen,” she rasped, rubbing her head. “Loud.”

Quietly, so that the gravel in his voice came out, he muttered, “I’m sorry.” Despite her pain, she couldn’t help but feel butterflies in his stomach at how his voice had deepened.

“Inquisitor, can you tell us how you’re feeling?” Vara asked softly.

“…Head hurts,” she finally managed, moving to massage the back of her head.

“Does it hurt where you’re rubbing?”

“Yes.”

“Is that all that hurts? How long has it been hurting?”

Margo did her best to answer Vara’s questions through the pain that was slowly encompassing her entire skull. She could feel Cullen’s eyes on her as she told Vara about her frequent problems with migraines.

Vara motioned for her to sit up and she groaned. She slowly propped herself up on her elbows, pausing to rub at her forehead as the room spun.

“Just a little more, Inquisitor,” Vara intoned softly.

“I’ve got you,” Cullen murmured, wrapping an arm around her shoulders and pulling her to his chest. Margo let her head fall onto his shoulder, his fur mantle cushioning her face. She would’ve felt embarrassed at her forwardness if she could see straight.

Vara’s hands felt along the back of her neck and shoulders. Margo glanced towards Cullen as he kept a secure arm around her shoulders, noting the flush that had creeped along his face and neck.

“Andraste—” the healer muttered before withdrawing her hands. “You’ve got knots everywhere, especially in the back of your neck. Probably what’s causing the majority of the headaches. I’ll go grab a salve that someone will need to rub on your back and neck that will help the knots come loose. You should do this for a week—and no hunching or strenuous activity. That will only make things worse…” She trailed off as she stood and thumped down the stairs. “I’ll be right back. Don’t move!”

There was no need for her to keep leaning against Cullen, but the way he absently rubbed her back felt divine. She quietly inhaled his scent before turning her face towards him. “Thank you…”

“Of course,” he replied, careful to keep his voice low. “You should really take better care of yourself, Inquisitor.”

“Look who’s talking,” she mumbled against his shoulder, closing her eyes.

He scoffed. “I mean it. Why didn’t you tell anyone?”

“I wasn’t really planning on collapsing.”

“You know what I mean.”

“I’ve always gotten these since I was small. They’ve never been bad enough to make me faint, so I just assumed it would hurt and then be over by tomorrow morning. Back in Ostwick, before the Circle, no one really seemed to care about it. I think they all just thought I was being dramatic minus Lucan. He went and got the healer sometimes, but the most they did was give me tea. It’s never been this bad before, but I wasn’t aware the knots were as bad as they were.”

“You’re hunching over reports too often.” Cullen shifted and she felt his stubble scrape against her cheek. “And probably not eating, drinking and sleeping enough. You need to be more careful.”

“Yes, Mother.”

“Margo…” he sighed, but she could hear the smile in his voice.

She tilted her head to meet his gaze, noting his own dark circles. “If I have to start taking better care of myself, so do you.”

“Inquisitor, please, don’t worry about me—”

“That’s the deal.”

“Margo—”

She gave a wry smile through the throbbing in her head. “Going once…going twice…”

He chuckled, his warm breath fanning her face. “Fine.” He shook his head. “You’re impossible.”

The haze in her head clouded her judgement as she smiled blearily up at him. “You still love me though.”

His hand froze where it was rubbing smooth circles on her back. He stared at her with an odd expression, half surprise, half something she couldn’t identify.

She felt heat flood her face as she realized what she’d said. The commander was still staring at her oddly. “I mean, I wasn’t—I didn’t—well, not like that obviously…” She groaned and buried her face in his mantle. “I’m sorry, my brain’s not working right now…”

After a moment’s pause, he gave his quiet response, “It’s all right.”

She knew she should pull away, but his hand on her back and the warmth of his fur drew her to burrow further into his shoulder. She would probably be embarrassed about this tomorrow, but for now, she would allow herself this small luxury.

[delhi-architect2]

Journal - Farm of the Future: Kotchakorn Voraakhom on the Epic Urban Rooftop Farm

Architects, interior designers, rendering artists, landscape architects, engineers, photographers and real estate developers are invited to submit their firm for the inaugural A+Firm Awards, celebrating the talented teams behind the world’s best architecture. Register today.

Great design brings environment and culture together. For Bangkok-based design firm LANDPROCESS, their work is helping to shift cities to a carbon neutral future by confronting climate futures. Founded in 2011 by landscape architect Kotchakorn Voraakhom, the firm was recently given a 2020 A+Awards Special Honoree Award for the Thammasat University Urban Rooftop Farm project. Prioritizing global food security, health and the environment, the team utilized neglected spaces to efficiently and sustainably produce food.

The team at LANDPROCESS created the Urban Rooftop farm to re-purpose 236,806 square feet of unused rooftop space at Thammasat University. The result is Asia’s largest organic rooftop farm. Architizer spoke with firm founder Kotchakorn Voraakhom about the project’s urban impact and how it feels to have been named a Special Honoree this year.

Eric Baldwin: LANDPROCESS was founded with the goal to shift cities to a carbon neutral future and confront future climate uncertainty. For Thammasat University’s Urban Rooftop Farm, how did you utilize neglected spaces to address these ideas?

Kotchakorn Voraakhom: LANDPROCESS was created upon the idea that landscape architecture can provide solutions to tackle climate uncertainty and find the right balance between urban ecological health and development. In overcrowded capitals like Bangkok, where open space is now almost impossible to find, urban developers across space-starved cities are seeking new room to build on. Neglected spaces, especially countless of unused concrete rooftops, pose new possibilities. Instead of adding new or leaving vacant environmentally-degrading concrete surfaces, we can transform those wasted spaces into environmentally-beneficial and much-needed public green space.

Fixing social and environmental issues through architecture is a must. Forgotten rooftop spaces can actually present numerous opportunities to promote a healthy, equitable, inclusive city for all. It may sound idealistic, but we the designers, Thammasat University and surrounding communities have actually achieved this by creating the largest urban farm rooftop in Asia.

What were a few of the major goals for the Urban Rooftop Farm, and how were these realized?

Slowing excessive runoff, relieving flash floods in flood-prone cities, turning the urban heat island effect into infinite clean energy, creating not just visual greening but also productive green space, as well as addressing toxic agrochemicals — Thailand is one of the top five importers of chemical pesticides — these were the questions I had in mind, for whether the urban development that caused these problems can fix them too.

Through a single architecture, the Thammasat Urban Rooftop Farm fixes one root problem which multiplies its effects. As landscape architects, I feel that we are all obligated to put a focus on the sustainable urbanization movement in our work in order to build livable cities of the future.

I’d like to give kudos to our wonderful client, Thammasat University, for holding a vision and mission in sustainable development. As an educational institution, it’s a perfect example to lead the initiative for our city while demonstrating to the younger generation how to engage in a healthy lifestyle as well as how to contribute to a circular campus economy.

The art of this architecture not only lies in its complex construction, but also in the work of negotiation, given the various stakeholders involved. This architectural piece was made possible through the cooperation of all landscape architects, architects, engineers and decision-makers.

Your design took the form of a cascading rooftop inspired by traditional rice terraces. How can designers learn from existing techniques and local traditions to address issues of energy, waste and public space?

Traditional agriculture is the perfect integration of human design with nature, an art-form deeply rooted in our culture. With the technology we have today, we can interpret what we’ve learned from the past to come up with future resilient design. For many developing countries, imported design and technology means expensive and high maintenance solutions because we’ve adapted to mimicking it without understanding the cultural maintenance and setting, thus making seemingly good architecture irrelevant to its context.

By looking at what has proven throughout time to be practical in the vernacular and local context, with technology we have today, we can progress by making architecture unique and native to its motherland and speak its own mother tongue. Because the purpose of architecture is not only to serve the client’s needs and create impressive forms, but also fix its city’s issues, each has our own ability to confront the future climate uncertainties that we are all experiencing differently throughout the world.

Many of the A+Award winning projects from this year contain elements that address some of today’s most pressing issues, from climate change to rapid urbanization. What does winning this Special Honoree mean to the practice and your work?

Firstly, thanks to the creators of the A+Awards for addressing the future of architecture and linking it to the pressing issue of climate change. I feel a special obligation for our profession to address these challenges, since our works is an important part of urbanization, the root cause of many of our environmental issues today. Winning the Special Honoree is a big step towards demonstrating our need to drive future architecture works to not only define aesthetics and human design philosophy, but also environmental balance.

Architecture should not only be a consumer role, but also give back to its surroundings. In my practice as a landscape architect, being awarded in the architecture realm really aligns with our belief that landscape architecture can transform buildings into climate solutions.

Furthermore, the Thammasat Urban Rooftop Farm shows that inclusive design actually goes beyond just humans, but also includes insects, birds, water, air and various other natural elements we often forget to consider as part of us. After all, the architecture we build today isn’t just for our generation, but also for the next ones — and they don’t seem to be very happy about the city and environment that we’re leaving them.

Where I come from, ‘grand’ pieces of architecture will mean nothing if our entire city will flood and sink in the near future. Today, there are many urban development projects which are completely irrelevant once put under the lens of climate change. We are currently at the point of ‘adapt or die’, and adaptive solutions should not come from business-as-usual thinking.

Nature is changing, the climate is changing, and so we, too, need to change and understand that fixed definitions of nature from one stage will no longer apply in this climate of uncertainty we are currently confronting. I don’t mean to say my team’s work is already addressing all the issues mentioned, but I do believe in learning, and am very excited about the solutions we can provide for the challenges that we’ll face.

Looking to the future, how do you think landscape architects and designers can embrace climate challenges to address local urban issues?

In my country, landscape architecture practices are often perceived in the shadow of architecture. Truth is, we are not simply designers of visual greening aesthetics, but we are also the re-creators and fixers of urban ecology. With current environmental degradation, we can see ourselves immersed in that scope of work — it’s a must that both landscape architects and architects come together to combine our approaches to figure out climate solutions.

My profession, landscape architecture, should not be left as the last amenity to finishing up a project or using the last of the budget for some minor greening. I’d like to see landscape architecture be considered as the source of initial concept, as the voice and restorer of a healthy urban environment. If architects and engineers collaboratively work more with landscape architects, I’m certain we can strengthen our climate-focused architecture in very significant ways.

To start a project, we need to put everyone on board at par to openly discuss and brainstorm, especially across various disciplines, without fear of judgement or domination. With that, I’d like to express my gratitude and officially thank the Arsom Silp Institute, the architect and engineer organization whom we worked with on this project, for allowing us to be a major part of the overall concept.

It was an honor to be able to freely share and discuss, making for such beautiful collaboration to create this integration between landscape architecture and architecture in the Thammasat Urban Rooftop Farm.

Architects: Showcase your next project through Architizer and sign up for our inspirational newsletter

The post Farm of the Future: Kotchakorn Voraakhom on the Epic Urban Rooftop Farm appeared first on Journal.

from Journal https://architizer.com/blog/inspiration/stories/kotchakorn-voraakhom-urban-rooftop-farm/ Originally published on ARCHITIZER RSS Feed: https://architizer.com/blog

[itdisneymatter]

Day 15 - Hollywood Studios

TLDR: Longest park day yet and one of the best. Met loads of characters. Took loads of photos. Kids became Jedi’s and battled against the formidable Darth Vader. Hit the shows we missed first time around and returned to favourites. The day had a definite Star Wars thread and ended with a huge Star Wars Pyrotechnics & Light show. Amazing day and Hollywood has most certainly been done for another trip.

Hollywood Studios. Our plan of action today was to retry Jedi Academy as we missed it last time and also do all of the extra things in the park like the Star Wars shows, Character autographs, photos and Fireworks. That meant a full 09:00-22:00 day shot at the park (weather permitting). Once we got through the gates, me and the kids once again went straight to register for Jedi Academy aaaand there was NO queue! It might just turn out to be a quieter day here in the park :) The kids were booked in by Becky who was from Falkirk! Small world. We had an early afternoon return time so hopefully in before the weather starts to turn as it was forecast to.

As it was REALLY quiet we walked straight on to Star Tours (even though we had a FP for it later in the day). I was identified as the rebel spy this time - WOOT! (though with a my favourite Disney Princess is Princess Leia it was kind of a dead giveaway). Same planets as before but we had Yoda instead of BB8 this time. And I survived! :P

After that we met Olaf for a quick photo op (no Anna or Elsa though :( ) and then a quick coffee stop and on to the Star Wars Launch Bay to meet several Star Wars characters too. Now Grace brought along Furbacca today with the sole purpose of introducing him to Chewbacca. And when he met him, was he confused - LOL - but he played along brilliantly, and Grace was absolutely tickled at his reaction. In fact Furbacca was a huge hit with a lot of the cast memebers through out the day, the only problem is he doesnt shut up, he constantly RWARRRs and sings Star Wars tunes all day. We got lots of photos of just the kids and the whole family - the staff are so accomodating and even though theres a queue they dont ever rush you out the door - just sums up the whole experience of Disney to be honest. Next up was Kylo Ren, and his sounds and mannerisms were spot on. Grace didnt really know where to look and she kept Furbacca hidden behind her back just in case. Then finally on to BB8 another one of Gracie's favs. The launch bay also had a lot of props and memorabilia so its a great experience for any Star Wars enthusiast.

May the force be with you!

We then headed off for our reservation for the Jedi Academy: Trials of the Temple. A short introduction followed by them donning their robes and marching their way through the park to the temple a little way away. And Patrick, Robert & Grace were in Team Chewie! A wee story develops where some Jedi masters arrive and take the through some training with light-sabres. And they the time came when the three of them faced off against Darth Vader and some other Darth Vader-chick. It was a tough battle and all three fought bravely and pushed back the dark forces of the temple. Kylo Ren also made an appearance to conclude the story. It seemed much more immersive than last time I seen the show and the kids loved it! Lots of pics taken by both ourselves and the Disney Photographers (and all of their photos are added to your memory maker too, which is sweet).

Reach for the sky!

Toy Story Fast Pass up next, and after my defeat at the  hands of my eldest on Men In Black the other day, I felt I had to redeem myself. That being said, Patrick asked for some hints and tips on this one too, which I did give him (albeit reluctantly).   Competition was fierce, esp from the missus, but I managed to scrape by.

Gerry: 162800

Ann: 141400

Robert: 114700

Patrick: 93200

Gracie: 49900

Patrick kinda waned on the Fun Fact Of The Day today but as its kinda related I gave him a pass. Here it is...

So many people started shouting 'Andy's coming' to the Toy Story characters that it had to be stopped for safety reasons. Now when people shout it, the cast members reply 'He's in College!'

Anyway, I celebrated my win with a wee double espresso, my first this holiday surprisingly - I think Ive had my fill of cold brews for a little bit. Next, we had our first of two regular Star Wars shows: March Of The First Order. Here, Captain Phasma leads a bunch of First Order troopers through the park in precise military fashion. Pretty cool and brings in the Force Awakens lore, which they seem to lean on heavily in the park at the moment (there are now 5 new Star Wars shows and attractions from two years ago). Fun Fact from myself, Captain Phasma is played by Gwendoline Christie aka Brienne of Tarth from Game Of Thrones which will shortly be starting back (one of the few things I’m looking forward to going back home for). HYPEEEEEE! Ahem. we headed over to the Great Movie ride after the show was finished. We didn’t get on this one last week, so was looking forward to it as was Patrick (though Grace was a little more reluctant as we hadn't really done any rides other than Star Tour so far). Nice wee trip through some memorable movie scenes, which included some live action sequences by cast members and ended in a nice compilation of movies over the last 70 years or so. After which  Patrick expressed an interest in watching older, classic movies when he got back home and I had to agree.

Our next attraction was a second Star Wars show, which wasn’t due to start for a while yet so we went to browse some shops (we didn’t have time to do anything else in the time). I decided to pop back down to Tower of Terror gift shop to see if there was some further Jasmine Beckett-Griffith art (where I picked it up from originally) and bought a Rey & BB-8 print. The cashier Noelle (probably noticing my t-shirt), gave me some insider info about the artist including that she was actually from Florida and pointed me in the direction of some further Star Wars prints only available in Disney Springs. Awesome! :)

We got into a good position for the Star Wars: A Galaxy far far away show which was a compilation of Star Wars clips with appearances from some major characters (and droids) at specific intervals. We seen another appearance from Kylo, Chewie and BB-8 as well as Boba Fett, R2 and Threepio and a bunch of others.

Who’s the leader of the club that’s made for you and me?

We then went to meet Mickey and Minnie! Something you absolutely must have to do when you visit here. After about a 30 minute wait (which was longer than the others for obvious reasons), we got to meet Minnie Mouse. She gave all the kids a big hug, signed their Autograph book and posed for photos with all of us. Then it was on to Mickey, and not just any Mickey - it was Sorcerer's Apprentice Mickey - one of Patrick’s absolute favourites and he went crazy when he found out. He also welcomed them with open arms and was really attentive will also of them, to the point Robert got a little emotional about the whole thing (to be fair they had been on the go for 7 hrs with little breaks and intense heat). Amazing experience for them and that particular one really made the day.

WE ARE GROOT!

Keeping in with the order of the day, we then headed off to meet Groot & Star Lord from Guardians. We didn’t know what Groot it would be but I think we all secretly hoped it would be Baby Groot, even though it would be pretty difficult to do a meet & greet with a one foot plant. We turned the corner to the set after queuing for a little and it WAS Baby Groot! He was sitting on a console with a cable, and had a pretty convincing actor playing Star Lord alongside him. He interacted really well with the kids and even told Grace The Collector was on the look out for her Furbacca (which she had in her hand ready to meet the two). It must more that a little demanding when your having to spontaneously interact with someone as a talking character as opposed to someone who puts on a suit so kudos to this dude (and no offence intended to the other costume characters).

Fortune and Glory, Kid!

Patrick wanted to go back to see Indy again (being an avid fan), so we decided to skip dinner for yet another hour to go catch the last show of the day. We arrived early enough to get one of the first rows and when it came time for the show to start and them to look for volunteers to participate in the how the kids and Ann put up their hand for me. Unfortunately I didn't get picked - kids were gutted and ummm so was I ;) Having photographed the last show I just wanted to get a few extra pics of the golden idol/boulder sequence (due to the better vantage point) and then I got to put my camera away to watch the show properly. Unfortunately a thunderstorm was heading our way so they had to cut the last scene much to the disappointment of the kids (and especially Grace when I told her this was the last day at Hollywood Studios). Luckily the storm didn't come to anything. When exiting Indy, Patrick decided that now would be a good time to redeem his birthday present in the form of an authentic leather Indiana Jones hat and satchel. 120 bucks for both but after thinking about it since last time we were here, it was what he really wanted and the hat looked cool AF!

And then FINALLY we ate! We picked up some sandwich meals at Backlot Express, which seems to be somewhat of an unspoken favourite in years gone by and the food was really good, even if it was just burger and fries. Grace also got a awesome looking  BB-8 cup (as she was no longer able to get another Orange Bird cup). After dinner, we decided to head back to the car to drop off some baggage and merchandise we'd picked up. And then Gracie fell. At first I thought it was nothing as she didn't make a noise (usually she's quite vocal about these kind of things), but after picking her up she seems to have damaged her elbow and knee (which was bleeding)  quite bad. Headed off to first aid who patched up her knee and gave her an bandage and ice pack for her elbow. As she couldn't really put any pressure on her knee, we had to get her a wheelchair to run her about the rest of the park for the remainder of the evening. And she was absolutely amazing about it all, not crying or complaining, so much so that we bought her some pins that she was wanting for being so brave.

Fire and Light!

As night was falling, it was time for the first of the two evening shows: Movie Magic! This was a light show cast on a huge building at the back of the park. It showcased a number of movies, including Pirates and Guardians (where  we seen Baby Groot again, in a HUGE digital projection this time). It was very impressive.

Shortly after that it was the finale performance for the evening and the one we were all waiting for Star Wars: A Galactic Spectacular! An epic fireworks and light show, all centered around different aspects of Star Wars. Lot of explosions and lasers tied in with a compilation of iconic Star Wars scenes and awesome fireworks. No characters this time, but it still had impact, especially the Leia scenes. A spectacular end to one of the best days we've had yet. Just under 13 hrs and 1350 photos later, not including a whole host of Memory maker ones, and Hollywood Studios was done for another trip.