WOOHOO Complete 4/08 Trip Report NOW UPDATING WITH NEW SPRING 2011 PRE TRIP PLANNING [Archive] - The DIS Discussion Forums

wwessing

04-13-2008, 05:18 PM

My Pre-trip report

Here’s the traveler’s. . .

Me – 40 and planner of all travels
DH – 39 and payer of travel expenses
DD15 – quietly anticipating
DD11 – not so quietly anticipating
DD9 (really 8 but going to be 9 in a few weeks and insisting we consider her 9 RIGHT NOW) – planning assistant

Only have 11 more sleeps until it’s time to leave!! 18 months worth of planning has come to this. . . 8 more workdays and 2 weekend days. 8 workdays have me a bit worried because I’m not finished with the BIG PROJECT I’m working on and I need to be finished in order to relax and enjoy this MUCH needed vacation with my family. So, I’ve prompted dh to expect me to work even MORE hours than I’ve been working for the past couple months. I WILL get it done. . .I’m the little engine that could. See, I have to travel 115 miles to get to the office where the BIG PROJECT is. So I have about 2.5 hours of round-trip travel each day. Because I’m needed in my home office with week of 4/21, I have to have BIG PROJECT completed by 4/18. . . (I think I can, I think I can, I think I can). Then it’s a relatively easy 3 days (4/21 – 4/23) at least hours wise until 4/24 with is D-DAY!!!!

K – so I mentioned 18 months of planning. . . then why do I still need things from the store?? Mostly we have purchased everything we need, but these little items keep popping into my head, hence THE LIST! DH is sooooo sick of the LIST that he can’t stand it. As of today, I’ve been informed that HE will finish shopping for the LIST and once he is done, THAT’S IT. . NO MORE LISTS! Weeeeell allrighty then. . .

Me, planner of the travels, has everything planned. We have a travel book. . . . for those of you who have OCD. . .you understand. For those of you who have special needs family members, it is likely you understand as well. Travel book is a 3-ring binder appropriately sectioned off with tabbed dividers. Reservations, budgets, receipts, meal planner complete with menus, tickets, itineraries, park day planners, contact information, vehicle rental. . .well, there’s more, but you get the idea. . . .ok, so don’t laugh at the pencil case full of pens, pencils, sharpies, highlighters, post-it notes, white out tape, paper clips. . . uuumm, yes, I completely understand my OCD issues (I left out scissors and tape, doesn’t that count for something). . .nevertheless. So I probably shouldn’t mention the folder with the trip tik turn by turn directions in case the GPS for some weird reason fails us. . . prolly should not tell you about the giant atlas I picked up either (you know, just in case the gps fails AND for some reason the trip tik jumps out the window) oh, and the calendar in case I forget what day it is. . . . enough already!!!

Seriously though. . .all the above is true. . . .ok, really serious, I’m almost finished packing. As a matter of fact, I took a couple of pics for your enjoyment (go ahead, laugh till it hurts). Here’s a bit of background for you. As mentioned, we are traveling as a family of 5 (yes, we have 3 more kids and a grandchild even who will not be traveling with us since they no longer live in our home). Both dh and I work full-time plus, so pulling this together cannot be last minute. . .well, because there aren’t many minutes to spare in our lives. 4 years ago we took all 6 kids on a wonderful vacation for 16 days. We have a great time and some beautiful memories to last a lifetime. What I’ve discovered during the planning of this trip, is I didn’t really plan that trip. I made reservations and purchased tickets, but really there was not much planning involved. . . I simply didn’t know I needed to. Well, I’ve since become a much better traveler and have definitely done my research this time. So, we travel prepared and with a special needs child, that is a must. Because we can not fly (special needs dd won’t even consider it), we decided to drive straight through. . . 1,055 miles from central Illinois to Orlando, FL. To make that even better, we are driving through the night. This is mostly so dd will sleep a good portion the trip and not freak out because she is cooped up in a car for 18 hours (uummm, yeah, we are driving during the day on the return portion). So, on Thursday, 4/18 dh will pick the kids up from school at 1:00, bring them home for a quick change of clothes, pit stop and into the rental van they will go. On the road by 1:30 at the latest with meal and fuel stops all mapped out and programmed into the GPS. But, I’m getting ahead of myself. The reason most of our packing is done is because we have to work every day (cept sat and sun) between now and then and kids have some after school events over the next week and a half AND next Saturday dh takes the kids to the dome in St. Louis for a Motocross event. Sunday is the celebration of my grandson’s 1st birthday (a whole nother issue since we will be gone for his actual birthday). Plus there’s got to be some time for cleaning the house since we will have a house sitter during our vacay to take care of the critters. Oh yeah, and did I mention dh decided to rearrange the furniture this
weekend?????

Next up. . . packing and pics

wwessing

04-13-2008, 06:08 PM

Note: I've included pics in the writing of this, but I'm having trouble getting photobucket to upload what I want. . . I'll keep trying and insert them here soon (I hope).

Anyway, packing has become it’s own planning event in itself as we are taking quite a bit of stuff for morning meals in the room and snacks as evidenced by this pic

Yep, that’s a whole suitcase of healthy snacks and breakfast stuff. And, notice the cooler shot has not a soda to be found. . . .we decided enough soda in the parks so we would not be having any of that outside the parks. Oh, the BIG suitcase. . well, it’s full of drinks, but I didn’t take a picture before we closed it up and set it right. Yep, we figured it was easier and more economical to get what we needed here and take it with us. But how to cart around cases of water, V8, a variety of juices. . . put them all in a suitcase with wheels and off we go. Since we only wanted to take one cooler and the one with wheels was not big enough to accommodate what we needed (I have dietary requirements) we packed a little bit of everything and put the rest in the suitcase. . . brilliant, eh? So since I have lost 26 pounds as of this date, and completely changed my lifestyle months ago, I started freaking out about how I was going to manage during vacation. I MUST have fruit, veggies, yogurt, green tea and water. . .that’s what I survive on all day long!!! So, dh says calm down you freak (not really), we will take what we can as far as fresh foods and load up on the other stuff. So I have a case of low sodium V8, cases of water and several cases of juices for the rest of my family. Did I mention I can’t have caffeine or high sugar products because I have an extra heartbeat that’s exaggerated by the above?? And yes, the cooler is also packed with space for a gallon of milk for the family, and space for yogurt and skim for me. Because we’ve not been on a vacation since my lifestyle change, we don’t really know what to expect as far as healthy eating, so I decided I have to be prepared and hope for the best. I want to maintain control of my diet and determine when I make a not so healthy eating choice (cheeseburger in paradise) rather than having no other choice. Riiigghht. . . enough about my dietary needs. . . . moving along then

For some time we have had garment bags hanging in our bathroom closet airing out. . .phew, they smell like plastic. Yep, they aren’t expensive cloth bags, and they stink cuz they are new. Each family member has their own garment bag and if it doesn’t fit in the bag, you can’t take it. Shoes and clothes must all be in the bag. Everything else goes in the ginormous suitcase I had to pay extra to get on the airplane!!! Hhhhmmmm, can I stick to my own rules. . . no one will know if I stick a few extra things in the suitcase. . . . but I NEED all those sandals. All the girls clothes going on vacation are hanging in the closet with the stinky plastic garment bags waiting to go in them so all I need to pack for them is the personals. And those have to fit in 2 gallon-size ziplocks with their name on them to lessen the confusion in the family suitcase. Our “bathroom” bag is all packed with the exception of one or two items we need until we leave. . . .ok, ok, I convinced dh that we NEEDED all new bathroom stuff so we didn’t have to wait around until the morning of to pack that bag. . . . . Oh, and our "swim" bag is packed with suits, towels and sunscreen since our room prolly won't be ready when we arrive. We can stow our luggage and grab the swim bag without worries. First aid kit - check and double checked. I have to thank a homie for the coolest idea. . . you know who you are(Barb). . . take a see-through over-the-door shoe bag so you can hang it on the bathroom door for all your stuff. Now your bathroom counter is not cluttered and housekeeping is able to keep your sink area clean. You know since "that video" of housekeeping and glasses, we have bought a supply of antibacterial wipes that are, of course, packed and ready to go. I think I'll be cleaning some things right out the gate. . . tv controlers, phones, door knobs, light switches and we've purchased and packed our OWN reusable plastic cups to take along.

Right, so the night before we leave, all will be packed and waiting by the door; house will be clean; sitter will have a set of keys; bunny delivered to my parent’s for rabbit-sitting duties and travel clothes all laid out for the girls. No piles of laundry will exist and no dirty dishes will be in the sink. . . it’s my pre-trip report, so I’ll tell it like I want to!!!!! It has to be this way because I only have a few hours for “last minute stuff” like renting the van, getting home and loading it up and being all prepared to pull out of the drive at 1:15 when everyone else gets home. What I can control, will be accomplished.. It’s the things I can’t that cause some anxiety. . .

Last minute packing is only allowed for the kids travel bags. . . they each will pack a small bag with their iPods, Nintendo DS, and whatever else they think they need. Since we are renting a van, we know it won’t be “loaded” so we’ve got 2 portable dvd players and a laptop ready to go as well. Remember we are driving through the night, so much of the travel time to Orlando will be spent sleeping . . . or so we think. DH and I will take driving shifts and will trade off each time we stop for gas. . . . does he realize I HATE night driving. . .nope, I didn’t tell him cuz I want to do my share so he’s not dangerous driving while sleepy. He can sleep anywhere, anytime under any conditions. . . so he’ll get 3-4 hours of sleep during my turns. I, on the other hand, will not sleep much since I don’t sleep well under the best of circumstances. Maybe he will be okay with one 4 hour nap . . . we’ve agreed that if we both are tired we will pull into a rest stop for a few hours. Plus, we don’t want to be exhausted for our first day of vacation. Smartly planned as a pool day at Nick studios.

Coming soon. . . the vacation plan

wwessing

04-13-2008, 06:43 PM

THE Plan . . . .

We have a limited time since we have taken our kids out of school. . .thanks to our district deciding that this year of all years we will not have an extended spring break.:scared1: . .what the.:mad: . .

So, we are leaving on 4/24 and, as you know, driving through the night to arrive at Nickelodeon Studios. I know, I know. . .terrible reviews but my kids reeeaaalllly wanted to stay. Gotta spoil them while I can. Besides, I’ve interacted here with some DIS folks who have recently gone and had positive experiences. I expect to find the hotel a bit dated and worn and realize that Marriott is taking over next year so there’s won’t be any renovations happening. It is what it is and I got a decent rate (thanks to a DISer tip) and it’s only for 3 nights.

So, Friday is arrive in Orlando day and set aside for the kids to enjoy the water park area. Dinner is planned for Sweet Tomatoes that night.:banana:

Saturday and Sunday are Sea World days. pirate: Both days will be spent at the parks until afternoon when we will return to Nick for some water park time. Dinner at Joe’s Crab Shack and Boston Lobster Feast those nights. Taking advantage of not being “on-site” and getting in those places we wanted to visit before we get to the Universal part. Oh, that’s next. Monday we move to HRH for the remainder of our stay :worship: :worship: :worship: :cheer2: :cheer2: – 6 more nights. Monday is Uni/IOA day; Tuesday we go to Busch Gardens; :yay: Wednesday is Uni/IOA and Thursday is Aquatica (rented a cabana). Friday and Saturday are Uni/IOA days and. . .well, I have to stop here because the next day brings us home and I so cannot include that right now. There are random other things we plan to do such as an evening visiting the go-cart tracks (I love my Other Orlando book).

For those of you who want to put in your 2 (or 3) cents, here’s the rest of the places where we will be eating: Sharks Grill (SW), NASCAR Grille, Crown Colony (BGT) Pastamore, Margaritaville, Bubba Gumps, Sal’s, Finnegans, Enchanted Oak Tavern, Thumder Falls Terrace, Mythos, Richters, Lombards (for seafood), Hard Rock café and NBA city. Off-site will include IHOP, Chick fil A, the Dessert Lady (thanks Kelly), McDonald’s Bistro and the hope that we will really fit all that in. . . I’ve got a planner that says we can. . . .

So probably most of you are thinking, what the heck, why all the dining plans. . .we’re not in Disney. . . here’s why – we have, as previously mentioned, a daughter with special needs. Surprises are NOT a good idea. We have had to locate and review menus for all the places we plan to visit so she can take her notes and feel comfortable ordering. Otherwise, there’s a really good chance that she will refuse to order or eat even if we order for her. It’s just what we have to do to accommodate her disabilities and be able to enjoy ourselves. I know I’ve goofed quite a bit during this report, but all the uber planning is to accommodate her needs. It gets more difficult as she gets older and is less flexible. While all the months and months of planning has been fun, it’s also been exhausting :surfweb: and keeping track of the details has been a second full time job. That’s why the Travel Book and all the back up plans and commando planning. I’ve finalized and double and triple checked on our reservations and my special requests. . .like I said, surprises are NOT good. . . even the advance packing has been partially for her benefit. She can go through everything and know what we are taking and where it is. She can know what will always be available for her to eat in the event she “can’t” eat at a restaurant and in the mornings. She “helped” me pack every single bag so far and the shopping LIST is partially her requests (dh still says too bad. . we are DONE with the shopping). Uh oh. . . . :eek:

So, we’ve got THE PLAN:idea: , we’ve done the details, we’ve done most of the packing, we’ve done the saving. . . now we are doing the hardest part THE WAITING!!!!!!!!:scared: :scared:

Whew. . . have realized that it is no simple task for my family to travel. . . so will I achieve sainthood for all my hard work and planning?? We shall see AFTER the vacation

pixeegrl

04-13-2008, 07:06 PM

OMG:rotfl: I had so much fun reading this! I don't know how I am going to wait for the actual TR! Have a great time!!!!:woohoo:

wwessing

04-13-2008, 10:11 PM

OMG:rotfl: I had so much fun reading this! I don't know how I am going to wait for the actual TR! Have a great time!!!!:woohoo:

Thank you. . . I will probably come back and update as the days go by and the packing and shopping proceed. Plus, I noticed lots of typos I need to fix. . . oops.

I'm going to have the laptop while we are gone, so my hope is to get a bit of time in the evenings to file my report day by day. . but we will see.

Hey, there are folks around here who are really good at stealing wireless connections . . . hook me up homies. . . .

LeslieR

04-14-2008, 11:28 AM

tlinus

04-14-2008, 11:50 AM

just making myslef a comfy spot here popcorn::

waiting fer more :cool2:

wwessing

04-15-2008, 04:11 PM

Thanks for the pre-trippie--love it! Keep it coming. I have my note pad right here taking notes. You've reminded me of a few things I don't want to forget! Like you I'm addicted to lists. My DH makes fun of me because sometimes, when the need arises, I make lists of lists...You're not the only one with OCD:goodvibes

A lot of the fun is in the planning.
Hope you can get the pics working!

I'm very happy that this reminded you of details. I know when I first started reading these boards I couldn't get enough. I ordered books, read thread after thread after thread, asked a billion ridiculous questions and literally researched for hundreds of hours over the past 18 months. I'm hoping as a result of all this planning, the only surprises we have are pleasant ones. . . .and involve candy :lmao: seriously, I mean that. . . but not for me since my candy eating days are a thing of the past (well, chocolate candy anyway. . . a couple pieces of hard candy now and again keep me sane) but for my dd15. She can handle "surprises" much better with candy. . .it tends to prevent or lessen the severity of our meltdowns. Whatever works, right :confused3

Anywho. . . I love the details so I likely overshare them and you will find when I can get the stupid pics to post the right size :headache: I'm absolutely certain no one gives a big hoot what's in my bags. . .but I'm compelled to share for some freaky, psychotic reason. . go figur'.

Thanks for reading. . . I'm not sure what I'll add before we leave, but probably some ridiculous, tiny details will come up. . . snap, :idea: I got to do more shopping last night. . .I'm gonna tell you guys all about it!

wwessing

04-15-2008, 04:15 PM

just making myslef a comfy spot here popcorn::

waiting fer more :cool2:

You know homies go to the Reserved for Redhead section with free cocktails and carrot sticks. . . .

wwessing

04-15-2008, 05:36 PM

So I'm going to TRY to add those pics I promised. . .here goes

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/snackpack2.jpg

so I don't know why, but this is how my photobucket pics are posting. If anyone knows how to tell me to resize them in photobucket, pm me please!

So, remember THE LIST? Last night, dh decides that after tanning, we will go to Wally World to finish up the shopping (for those of you who read closely, you will remember he said HE would finish it up. . .), so we load up and head to the tanning salon where we register dd15 because she has "earned" the privilege. Ok, so I got sucked into that one, made the deal and had to stick with it. Anyway, tanning took FOREVER because we are used to going sans children and we had to take all 3 with since dd15 is now a tanning participant (yes, I realize she will not get anything remotely close to a base tan in 9 days counting today, but a promise is a promise and SHE doesn't know that she's not going to be tan:rolleyes1 ). Finally, I'm the last one out of the salon and the family is impatiently waiting in the car. Off we go to Wally World, which is like 5 seconds, literally, from the salon, find an upfront parking space (I told dh to park farther out because I wanted the walking distance) in row #8 (hey Lawrence, are you reading this??) and in we go. I have the list in hand, determined to purchase only what is written, so I head off the the. . .uuuhhhhmmm, ladies personals, pick up what dd will need (oh dear Lord, just the thought of my special needs 15 year old with pms while on vacation. . .please pray for me y'all), moving on to get a supply of allergy meds (oops, that's not right, get the one with both day and night formula), over to the hair goddess section for a ginormous clip for me (which of course they don't have one large enough :mad: ) and some metal-free elastic ponytail holders for dd's (spring colors of course.. . .this causes dh to roll his eyes numerous times). Now, where's the bunny food and chew sticks. . .dh off to get those while I contemplate the array of deodorant. Finally make my selections and I'm off to find that little bottle of stuff to prevent swimmer's ear (beign proactive since dd11 is prone to get it). Yes. . .there it is. . .for $6 a bottle, which I will gladly pay though it is really only vinegar (got that from the doc's own mouth) but the shelf is empty - dang!! Circle that on the list and meet up with dh to get batteries for the digital camera. Huge sigh. . . dh won't buy the batteries because they are out of the 4 pack and he doesn't WANT to buy the bigger pack ( ok, so they are the lithium energizers and I get that they are expensive, just buy the ridiculously overpriced big pack. . would ya:sad2: ) so that items gets circled as well. Now we are off to the food half of the World to get water, yep 2 cases of Dasani in the cart. . . a couple 12 packs of Lipton extra sweet (yuck!) for dh, some diet citrus lipton green tea for me. . check. . now we are down to only a couple LIST items, but dh is off getting things we need at home. Milk, frozen veggies, whatever the kids have talked him into. . ok, I'm off to get stuff I want then. . . 20 yogurts (:lmao: :lmao: ) but I neeeeed them, some roasted chicken (yessss! they have an applewood smoked left). Finally, dh shows up so off we go to find the check out lines are loooonnnnng :confused3 what the heck. Now the wonderful lady in front of us also has a giant cart full of stuff and of course something needs a price check and THEN she wants to pay on her charge card bill :confused: :mad: :eek: HEY LADY! THE LINES ARE LOOOOONNNNNGGG - TAKE YOURSELF TO CUSTOMER SERVICE. . . NO. . . THANKS FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION OF THE 5 PEOPLE BEHIND YOU!!!! Out to the car, load up the stuff. . dh says, #$&*, I forgot to get diet 7up. . .yeah, well I'm hungry, it's nearly 8:00 and WE AREN'T GOING BACK IN!!!!

So, we STILL have items on the LIST. . . what the heck :confused3 . . . so we decided that it's way too distracting to try to focus on LIST shopping with the kids so tomorrow night we will go while the kids are at their youth groups at church. But wait. . . there will be one more trip yet before D-Day because I'm a giant whiner and I must have my fresh fruit and yogurt to put in the cooler. . . so we will be shopping the night before departure. . . yikes!
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/snacksuitcase.jpg this is actually a different pic than above. . .look to the left and you will see a blue jean clad knee and an arm. . .look to the right and you will see something pink. . .that is dd11 and dd9 sitting behind the suitcase. . . just in the event you didn't realize how ridiculously large this . . .ahem. . snack bag is.
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/bagsandcooler.jpg
You see the snack case and cooler, but behind them is sitting a bigger bag and that's the one full of drinks, which I mentioned in an earlier post.

Next. . . can my OCD tolerate the bags sitting in the living room until d-day :scared:

LeslieR

04-16-2008, 09:25 AM

tlinus

04-16-2008, 09:31 AM

LeslieR

04-16-2008, 11:17 AM

First of all - Great installment Wendy!!

We do the refillable cup - we stay for a week and it is most certainly worth its weight in GOLD - especially with 3 kids :thumbsup2 Frank is in to the whole "cootie" thing this year, so hoping that we can still convince him that his sisters most certainly do not have cooties and they can all share the same cup !!!!!

IIRC the small cup is 16 ounces maybe? kinda like your small cup at a McD's or BK

I hear you about the cooties thing!! There are just 3 in our family but our 13 yr old son wouldn't even think of drinking after anyone-ever-not even his own parents! What have I done? I have raised a germaphobe :scared1: So anyway, we would have to buy 2 cups (Of course to save a buck, I am gracious enough to share with my DH :rotfl: luckily we both do diet)

We'll be at UO 4 days in early August :sunny: . I think it's starting to look like a good idea. Thanks for your input.

tlinus

04-16-2008, 11:48 AM

I hear you about the cooties thing!! There are just 3 in our family but our 13 yr old son wouldn't even think of drinking after anyone-ever-not even his own parents! What have I done? I have raised a germaphobe :scared1: So anyway, we would have to buy 2 cups (Of course to save a buck, I am gracious enough to share with my DH :rotfl: luckily we both do diet)

We'll be at UO 4 days in early August :sunny: . I think it's starting to look like a good idea. Thanks for your input.

DH and I sometimes share a refillable pilsner :rolleyes1 Sometimes I have to just buck up and buy my own :upsidedow - but guess who gets stuck holding ALL of the cups :scared:

LeslieR

04-16-2008, 01:02 PM

wwessing

04-16-2008, 01:59 PM

Excellent..I love this! Added two more things to my list that I would have (maybe) forgotten..swimmers ear stuff and camera batteries! Altho I still have 3+ months to plan:lmao: Can't be too ready right?

I'll have to try the lipton green tea. Does it taste like tea or what? I usually hate that bottled tea unless its unsweet, no lemon then I can tolerate.

Does your family buy the drink cups with cheap refils at the park? I've been trying to figure how many drinks we would have to buy to make it worth it. I think I read the small drinks are like 2.50, but I don't know how small is small.

I'm really enjoying your planning...keep it coming if you have time !

I'm still in the middle of BIG PROJECT. . . but taking a break from it for a bit. Waiting for a tenant to get back so she can come in and sign her documents. Oops. . .guess I can't do anything else until then. . . :rolleyes1

To answer your questions -

I can not drink caffeine, and green tea has very little so I tolerate it well. I drink the diet citrus. Honestly, I have an insulated cup I carry around EVERYWHERE. I fill it full of ice then pour in the room temperature tea. The ice melts, waters it down and it's good to go. . . .too sweet for me straight from the bottle. And, no, it doesn't really taste like regular tea, but I'm addicted. I get lots of water this way :confused3

Yes, we will buy a refillable cup at Universal/IOA (probably at the busch parks too) and use it all of our days. For our family, it is definitely worth it. We will share one cup probably. . . we will see how that goes. The refills are very cheap, like less than $1 and even cheaper if you have AAA or AP to flash. Because we know that most of the refills will be soda, we did not pack any soda to bring with. The kids will get enough as it is, so for them we bought juice and water and some carnation instant breakfast to add to milk for the mornings.

DH likes tea. . . he drinks alot, but he likes it sweetened. It was for him we bought the lipton extra sweet in the bottles. . . man that stuff is expensive.

wwessing

04-16-2008, 02:05 PM

DH and I sometimes share a refillable pilsner :rolleyes1 Sometimes I have to just buck up and buy my own :upsidedow - but guess who gets stuck holding ALL of the cups :scared:

Refillable pilsner??!!? Where do ya get that?

Yeah, holding the cups is another factor I'm taking into consideration before we buy. If they have a handle that I can clip to my bag that would be great.

My girls are pretty used to sharing because when they do each get their own, they tend to waste. I don't mind buying, but I really mind wasting. . .so we will have to see how it goes. I can pretty much say too bad, share that cup and we will refill it whenever we need to and they will accept that (especially if I tell them fine, you can have only water then . . . I'm sooooo mean like that). I, however, did not know of a refillable BEER CUP. . . so I will definitely need more info on that and dh doesn't do beer, so it will be alllllll mine! Here's the difficulty with that. . . if me, the planner and organizer of all things goes down, they will likely stand there and stare at me since i won't be conscious to tell them what to do :scared1: (just kidding) :rolleyes:

LeslieR

04-16-2008, 02:54 PM

My girls are pretty used to sharing because when they do each get their own, they tend to waste. I don't mind buying, but I really mind wasting. . .so we will have to see how it goes. I can pretty much say too bad, share that cup and we will refill it whenever we need to and they will accept that (especially if I tell them fine, you can have only water then . . . I'm sooooo mean like that). I, however, did not know of a refillable BEER CUP. . . so I will definitely need more info on that and dh doesn't do beer, so it will be alllllll mine! Here's the difficulty with that. . . if me, the planner and organizer of all things goes down, they will likely stand there and stare at me since i won't be conscious to tell them what to do :scared1: (just kidding) :rolleyes:

We're not big soda drinkers, but in that August heat who knows? We may go for the free water more than the soda, but a good cold soda hits the spot sometimes.

tlinus just gave me the low down on the refillabe pilsners. She said you can get them at most drink carts for about 8 bucks and refils are about 6. I know my DH will be digging that deal!;)

tlinus

04-16-2008, 05:05 PM

My girls are pretty used to sharing because when they do each get their own, they tend to waste. I don't mind buying, but I really mind wasting. . .so we will have to see how it goes. I can pretty much say too bad, share that cup and we will refill it whenever we need to and they will accept that (especially if I tell them fine, you can have only water then . . . I'm sooooo mean like that). I, however, did not know of a refillable BEER CUP. . . so I will definitely need more info on that and dh doesn't do beer, so it will be alllllll mine! Here's the difficulty with that. . . if me, the planner and organizer of all things goes down, they will likely stand there and stare at me since i won't be conscious to tell them what to do :scared1: (just kidding) :rolleyes:

Wendy,

Refillable Pilsners (original purchase/fill) = 7.99
*******these cups are also GOOD FOR LIFE!!!!!! :woohoo: (God I love US/IOA)*******
Refills are around 6 bucks
Refills at Happy Hour $3.25 for domestics (I usually go with Bud Light)
DH can also get a drink in a cup and walk around with it......not that I am encouraging it or anything :rolleyes1 :rolleyes1

It's nice to have the option to have an adult beverage when you please on vacation. It gives me my "nerves of steel" to do rides I never did before (JPRA, ROTM) and it makes my kids less annoying :lmao: :lmao: :rotfl2: :lmao: :lmao:

LeslieR

04-16-2008, 08:26 PM

[/SIZE][/FONT][/B]

:lmao: :lmao: :lmao:

wwessing

04-16-2008, 10:35 PM

. . .uuuhhhh, probably not because we still have one item on THE LIST. Of course it's mine, but I reeeeealy neeeeeed it (said in a whining voice). You know those single use nail polish remover packets????? Weeeellllll, why doesn't wally world have those :mad: stupid store. . . . so now I have to shop around for them cuz I have to have them. . .right? Who wants to travel with a bottle or jar of polish remover. . .might as well put bleach in your suitcase :headache:

. . .earlier this evening

So here I sit. . . . :rolleyes1 :rolleyes1 :rolleyes1 :rolleyes1 waiting and waiting and waiting for dh because he said "wait for me to call and let you know when I'm on my way home". Yeah, ok. . .so we are supposed to go tan then run in Wally world for the last few items on THE LIST. Yep. . .I'm still waiting and waiting and waiting. Kids at church. . check. . . dinner done. . .uuummm, nope. . . . no time for cooking because I'm leaving.. . . at least I think I am. Finally, the phone rings and dh says, ok, I'm just heading back into the shop so meet me in the parking lot. Well, ok, what parking lot?? Wally world parking lot, is the response. . but we are supposed to tan. . .well, it's going to have to wait because I had to work late and we need to get the LIST finished!! Ok, ok (MR. grumpy) I'll meet you there. Me, being me, slip on my brand new speedo pool slides that FINALLY came today (another story) to see how they wear and out the door. Ok, here I am. . where the heck are you :confused3 . Ring. . ring. . .ring. . .dh says "where are you". Me: "I'm parked in row 8 like always. . where are you". DH - "Uh, I just left the shop, I'll be right there" :mad: :headache: :eek: :sad2: So FINALLY, there is dh. In we go and over to see if the swimmers ear is stocked. . yep, there it is and in the cart. . .next up, nail polish remover packets. . . so you already know the outcome of this. . . nowhere on the shelves and no empty space, which I suppose means they don't carry them (losers). . . ok, so on to find a travel sewing kit. . .yep, dh spots them and finds the perfect little tiny case with everything we need for a 10 day trip. . .good, scratch that off and we are right by electronics. . . let's look for those batteries. . yeah! there are acceptable 4 packs. . throw those in. Now all we have left is Diet 7up and sunglasses. . . can't forget the spare sunglasses. Off to get the soda. . in the cart. . . uh oh, I forgot that we need to order cake for bubby's birthday party this weekend (Bubby is really Alex and he is our grandson. . yes, I said grandson and yes, I'm WAAAAY too young to be a gramma). So I mention in a previous post that his actual birthday is while we are on vacay, so dd is upset cuz WE are THE grandparents and we won't be there. . . I'm like, ok, he is going to be ONE! He won't know and we will have a party before we leave so he will have pictures of his 1st birthday party with us. . . so quit being a freak!! Anywho. . .over to the deli to order. . . we decide we don't want a bunch of cake so a dozen cupcakes fits the bill and, of course, a smash cake for the bubster! I won't go into how I soooo confused the bakery person taking the order. . .so I want what I want and don't see a problem with that :confused3 :rolleyes1 and, oh yeah, I need some more smoked turkey breast. Finally, off to the sunglasses. Ok - I know they are Wally world glasses, but wth, they are like $20 a pair so we both get a pair for $40 :yay: I'm not buying Oakley's to lose at a park. . . and yes. . . WE HAVE CONQUERED THE LIST. . . . now, if we could only find a check out isle with less than 5 people waiting. . . .

. . . I want to make it clear that dh said, on the way out the door, that we would have to go back the evening before d-day for milk, yogurt and grapes :scared1: :scared1: :scared1: I'm like, DUDE - I DON'T WANT TO GO TO WALLY WORLD, OR ANYWHERE ELSE THE NIGHT BEFORE WE LEAVE - I WILL HAVE WAY TOO MUCH STUFF TO DO! He's like. . .uuuhhhh, queen of all planning. . . you have been packing freaking bags for weeks now. . . I think you can have them ready IN ANOTHER WEEK!!!! :angel: Uh, yeah, ok . . but. . . (I got THE LOOK). . . I'll be glad to go (NOT)

Now here's the plan. . .dh is taking the girls to St. Louis for a motocross event on Saturday. They will leave in the morning and won't be back until very late at night. Know what I'm doing???????? CLOTHES SHOPPING!!!! SSShhhhhh. . . he'll never know. . .

. . . ok, ok, who am I kidding. . .of course he will know. . . he know's everything and he can spot a new item of clothing at a hundred yards. So I'll just tell him as he's walking out with the girls. . . he'll be so focused on getting on the road, he won't pay attention to me :flower3:

I'll be back to let you know how that goes, plus, I'm packing the kids' garment bags on Saturday. . . if it won't fit in the bag, you can't take it. . .

NEXT. . . hhhmm, what do I buy for myself and will all their clothes fit?

macraven

04-16-2008, 10:46 PM

you lost a lot of weight.

buy spandex

it's easy to pack, doesn't take up much room.

how many more sleeps for you now wendy?? :woohoo:

wwessing

04-17-2008, 07:03 PM

you lost a lot of weight.

buy spandex

it's easy to pack, doesn't take up much room.

how many more sleeps for you now wendy?? :woohoo:

:rotfl2: :rotfl2: :lmao: :lmao: :rotfl: :rotfl: Uuummmmm. . .I didn't lose that much weight. . .only 28 pounds so far and I guarantee that's not enough for me to wear spandex . . .

. . . on second thought :idea: if we wanted to clear the parks and have the rides all to ourselves :rolleyes1 . . .perhaps. . . .

wwessing

04-19-2008, 08:48 AM

Yeah! I need to add something regarding the last Wally World stop. I forgot to add a purchase that was NOT on THE LIST. DH stopped to pick up something and I noticed the camera's. Got to looking and decided that although we purchased a very nice digital camera a couple months ago, I wanted to have a camera I was comfortable with around the water. . . after all, we will be in it, around it and getting splased by it in some form every day, so we invested in a couple disposable, water cameras. I've never used them before, so we shall see what we get, but it's got to be better than nothing. I know there will be some "kodak moments" involving water and I certainly don't want to miss those :lovestruc

My shopping trip. . . .

So yesterday, because I FINISHED THE BIG PROJECT :cool1: Thursday night at 10:00, I did not have to drive that 90 mile torture on Friday, so I went to my local office and left around 12:30. I don't know what to do with unstructured time, since I NEVER have any. . . so, off to the bank for a final deposit (yeees! I got my mileage reimbursement) and head west. . .that's where all the shopping is in my town. I hear Fashion Bug calling my name so I've got a destination. Easy parking right in front. . .but I choose about half way out so I can burn a few more calories on the way in :rolleyes1 and :cloud9: there is SOOOO much to choose from! I'm used to only having a few things I like to chose from, but not today!!!! There's tons of stuff I like and works for me. . . . after only an hour :eek: I've got my arms full and think I better go see what the damage is. I found 3 shirts, 2 pair of shorts and some black capris that could be casual or dressy :banana: Up to the counter and are they glad to see me. . then I notice the toe rings. My eyes glaze over as I peruse the shiny jewels and, alas, I cannot decide. They look so tiny and delicate. . .not good when speaking toe rings since those are the ones that break easily. I finally make a choice, but only after the manager has opened two packages so I can really look at them. . . and the cash register starts ringing. So because I can, and usually do, talk to complete strangers like they were old friends, I'm chatting with the manager and another nice, young girl working the register, I've swiped my card and paid and realize I DON'T EVEN KNOW HOW MUCH I SPENT. :scared1: Smooth on their part, dumb on mine. So before I know it they are handing me a bulging sack and asking if I want my receipt or should they just put it in the sack. . .I'm like. . .uuummm, I probably should have it since I DON'T KNOW HOW MUCH I JUST SPENT:eek: With much trepidation I take the receipt as the manager and young sales clerk look on. . . . :cool1:happy days. . .I've spent less than

$150!!!! :woohoo::yay::lovestruc How's that for shopping sales ;) So, happy camper that I now am, out the door I go and realize IT'S RAINING!! Remember, I have parked my car waaaaay out there for caloric burning purposes. . . now I'm going to burn even more calories by running to my car and holding my bag over my head at the same time and hopefully without tripping, falling or splashing through a giant puddle. . . . :sad2:

So, ok, I made it. . . ran between the drops

Off toward home thinking I'm very hungry and deciding that I can wait 20 minutes and open some soup. . . very thrifty, eh. . . .

Now I've got most of what I need, but I've forgotten I need some. . . uumm, personal clothing, but know that dh and the girls will be gone for hours and hours tomorrow (Saturday) so I have tons of shopping time.

Once home, I get my soup and start reviewing our travel book. I realize we are down to only a few banking days before d-day and we really need to decide how we are going to handle the finances. Once I start adding and subtracting and dividing and figuring (oh, yeah, I added several categories to our budget this week that I had previously forgotten :scared1: what a dummy. . . I forgot snacks/drinks in the park, feeding the animals at sea world funds, and parking money. . . really stupid things to leave out, I know. Sooo, I try to guestimate some numbers and things really added up quickly. . . very quickly. . . now I've added several hundred more to our budget and haven't figured out how to pay for it . . . uh oh. . . dh isn't going to be happy about this!) By the time all was said and done, I was able to figure that he only needed to add a couple hundred (had to take out some of my padding - :mad: ) so dh wasn't :eek: at all. He was like, no big deal, it's fine :love: Of course, what's a couple hundred when you look at the bottom line of THIS budget :scared1: So, financial planning nailed down, I send dh off to the bank for our stash of cash and to cash in the change I've been secretly saving for spending money for the kids. Yeah, I know, I was at the bank earlier, but I didn't know for sure what dh wanted to do so I figured I better not take any chances :angel: Now, banking is done, THE LIST is done, everything but the clothes are packed and waiting (still sitting in my living room :eek: ). I've put a couple gallon jugs of water by my bay window so my house sitter won't water all my plants with cold water; made sure pet supplies were on hand; checked, double and triple checked my travel binder for ressies, tickets, etc. Now all that's left to do is get the clothes in the garmet bags tomorrow and finish getting ready for Bubby's birthday party on Sunday. . . . BUBBY. . . he's coming to spend the night with us - YEAH! Ok, so dd will come pick him up kind of early in the morning and I'm going to have her stay until everyone else leaves and take her and bubby to lunch Saturday. I don't get to do that often. . .matter of fact. . . we've only been able to do that 2 times in the past couple years. So, it will be nice to spend some time with my oldest daughter without anyone else distracting us. . . except for Alex (aka Bubby) of course. So I'm thinking lunch at Applebee's. . yyuuuummm.

Tomorrow. . . . final shopping for my socks (and other stuff), lunch with my eldest and packing garment bags for my girls.

LeslieR

04-19-2008, 12:21 PM

It's almost here! :banana: I'm so excited for you. Glad to hear you found some good clothes!

Can't wait to hear more....:surfweb:

pixeegrl

04-19-2008, 06:41 PM

OOHHHH! The suspense is building! If the pre trip report is this much fun I can't wait for the actual TR! Maybe if you find yourself with some extra time and don't know what to do you can tell us a little more about that Travel Binder! I think I may want to start one now LOL!~:rolleyes1

LeslieR

04-22-2008, 10:39 AM

Just noticed you've changed your pounds lost to 30!! :woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo: Congrats! Have a great trip--only TWO sleeps to go!!!:jumping1:

fvols98

04-25-2008, 10:16 AM

Subscribing

t-and-a

04-30-2008, 08:45 PM

When is Wendy coming back?

macraven

05-01-2008, 12:07 AM

When is Wendy coming back?

they arrived on monday of this week. i think they left on the weekend and was going to do a motel on the way down.

i think they are staying 5 days on site at universal and then will do the drive back home. it should be about a 850 mile trip for them.

i'll go back and see what she listed for her dates.

macraven

05-01-2008, 12:11 AM

i found it.
she mentioned other activities they were doing before going to UO.
this is what she said her agenda would be:

"Monday we move to HRH for the remainder of our stay – 6 more nights. Monday is Uni/IOA day; Tuesday we go to Busch Gardens; Wednesday is Uni/IOA and Thursday is Aquatica (rented a cabana). Friday and Saturday are Uni/IOA days and. . .well, I have to stop here because the next day brings us home and I so cannot include that right now. "

looks like they head back home on this coming sunday.
they can drive straight thru. its long but doable.
more than likely they will stop along the way for the night.

chrissyc

05-02-2008, 11:09 AM

Can't wait to hear the trip report!

macraven

05-05-2008, 09:58 PM

i hope she adds on to this thread about her vacation.

can't wait to read it! :woohoo:

tlinus

05-05-2008, 10:30 PM

oh Wendyyyyyyyy

SO?

Spill it chickie-how was it???

macraven

05-13-2008, 09:35 AM

hey wendy...........where's the report?

we all are waiting for you here!!

LeslieR

05-14-2008, 10:12 AM

Did you use up all your suitcase food? Inquiring minds need to know.....

Hope your trip was great...patiently waiting to hear all about it...

wwessing

05-14-2008, 04:47 PM

Sorry for the delay in trip report. I've been having some serious post-vacation depression:confused3, along with trying to get back in the swing of things at home and work. . .and, oh yeah, dd11 spend Monday in the hospital and today at the doctor. Long story for another time, but she's on the mend.

Ok. . . so here it is. . . .

You know the family from the pre-trippie so we can jump right in.

Thursday, 4/24/08

I am officially on vacation from work :cool1: so I get to go pick up the rental. All bags are packed, everything is stacked and waiting to be loaded. DH is to be home by noon to help load and kids are to be picked up from school at 1:00pm (uuummm, our kids are in three different buildings. . .how are we going to do that???).

Call my pops to come pick me up and take me to Enterprise. Yeah, yeah, I know, they pick you up, but they don't buy you lunch like my dad :thumbsup2 So off we go and as we pull up to the Enterprise building, we see a van pulling into the lot and an employee getting out of it. Bet that's my van. . . so my dad says he will wait until everything is signed and settled. . . inside I go and ask about the van. Sure enough, she says go have a look. So back outside I go, open it up and eeeeewwwwww. . . it is really dirty and yucky, so my father gets out of his van and comes over to look and thinks the same thing. Then the employee comes out and says they will clean it, but there is another in the cleaning bay I can look at. . .so we all march off and it looks almost the same. . one is a Dodge the other a Chrysler. I decide on the Dodge and they say 30 minutes until they have it clean. Ok, so me and my pops are going to go grab a quick lunch when I see my mom pull in the lot. She's retired but drives for Enterprise (lucky me seeing as how I get her discount of 50% off!). So my dad radios her and says I'm sitting in the front lot, come around. Here comes my mom, up to my window and we ask her if she wants lunch. . .she bursts into tears and climbs into the van and is crying so hard we start to get really worried cuz something bad has obviously happened (as I selfishley see my vacation slipping away) and mom tells us that my dnephew has just called her and said Nala is missing. For those of you who don't know, Nala is a one year old, blonde cocker spaniel who we fostered for several months recently (until she chewed up one too many things and ran out the door down the block one too many times and dh made her go to my parents house). Anyway, Nala is missing! My mom loves that dog. . .but, geesh, come on Mother! Nala runs out the door every chance she gets and she is FAST. So as we are processing this, we decide to go to Arby's so I can get a salad and I mention that Nala has an identity chip in her shoulder, so if something has happened to her, like she got hit, the vet will find it. My dad realizes he has had his phone on silent all morning and checks it to find that he has missed a couple calls. Sooooo, call the number. It is from the neighboring state, where my nephew lives, and it must have something to do with the dog since we gave the vet my parents information as nephew isn't permanently settled in life yet. Sure enough, it is an animal hospital in Missouri and someone will call us back in 15 minutes. Ok, great. . now my mom is freaking out cuz she just knows that Nala is dead, so I said someone call my nephew and tell HIM to call and find out what is going on. . it's HIS dog and HIS responsibility. So nephew calls the hospital, gets an answer and doesn't bother to call my mom back. . . we know he got the information because 20 minutes later she called him back and he was like, yeah, some lady found her and saw the tag showing she's got an identity chip so took her to the local vet, who called you guys. Good. . .Nala is safe, but what a little brat you are not to call your gramma when you know she is freaked out the very minute you find this out!!! Can't wait to see you next time you come home!!!!! Drama over, we finish lunch and head back to Enterprise where my mom has to complete her paperwork for the drive she finished and I get my rental.

Van is all cleaned up, checked over with the Enterprise guy, paperwork signed and off I go. YEAH!!!!! Now I really feel like vacation is starting. I call dh who says I'm in the office at the warehouse talking to Dave (who is the owner of the company and also my father) I'll be right home. I'm like great, I'll top off the tank, meet you at the house and we can get this van loaded ON TIME! I go about my business, make it home and NO DH. . what the. . . . he should have beat me home and showered already! Ring, ring, ring. . where the heck are you? Ok, dh says I just left I'm really on my way home and I decide not to let it go and get things moving on my own. I take the cooler I had iced down the night before outside to drain and re-ice; back the van up into the yard so it's right outside the door (he he, ticked dh off. . .guess he shoulda been home taking care of it if he didn't like my way of doing things) and started moving things toward the door. DH shows up, with a giant bag of ice and runs to the shower. 10 minutes later he is helping load the van, and let me tell you, that van was LOADED. We had even stowed one of the 3rd row seats since we only needed 5 anyway, and it was packed. As it's nearing 1:00, I'm like, we need to get moving so one final check of the house, one final potty break for the dog and off we go. Ok, so we have a kid in the high school, middle school and elementary building. First stop is the high school, figuring we will drop her off at the elementary, which is right next to the middle school, she can run in and sign out dd9, while we drive next door to the middle school and dh can run in and sign out dd11 and I will coordinate getting everyone back in the van. All works as planned and everyone is soooo excited. We realize we need to run back home because they have book bags which don't fit. . .so back to the house (only a few blocks), book bags thrown inside and off we go! :cool1: :worship: We are really, really headed to Florida!!!!

First stop is in southern Illinois, in a small town called Marion. I had discovered a pizza joint that was supposed to be very good and since I haven't had pizza since early December, that's our first meal. It 's a few hours drive, with me at the wheel, and we are all glad for the break when we get there around 4:30. Seated right away, check out the menu and have so much trouble deciding. Finally decide I'm not going to get a pizza since no one else really wants one, so I settle for a calzone with veggies. Food comes, there is plenty and it is good and I can't eat it all. . .that sets the stage for the rest of our meals! Meal sharing quickly became the name of the game, but we had really planned on that anyway.

So, dinner finished, back in the van with dh driving. Now we know we are in for a long haul because our next real break, besides gas stops, is not until the next morning as we are driving straight through.

Ok, ok, I wasn't going to tell you, but I missed the exit I was supposed to take to get to the restaurant and ended up going 15 miles before we could exit again!!!! In my defense, there was road construction and no clear sign, just an exit number which dh saw at the last minute and it was too late. Let me just say, we love the gps!!

So, back on the road after dinner, kids are settling in for a long drive with the DS's, ipod's and dvd players. Uuuummm, my back starts hurting. I have to say that we loved this van, but I HATED the seats. They were not comfortable, for me at least, and I would not buy this van based on this reason alone. So I pop the first of many Tylenol and keep the whining to myself.

The next hours are night driving and gas only stops. Our first was in Lavergne, TN, our next in Macon, GA and our final in Gainesville, FL where we were to have breakfast at IHOP. . .the first of several IHOP stops. So wake up the kids, and in the restaurant we go. Now we have gained an hour in TN, so it's like somewhere between 7 and 8am, so we've been driving for a really, really long time but the restaurant isn't crowded and we get seated immediately. Everyone can find something at IHOP, so we all order. Girls had, of course, smiley face chocolate chip pancake with chocolate milk. DH has whatever, since I can't remember and I order a veggie omlet with egg substitute and no cheese. I also order wheat toast with no butter and decaf coffee. Oh, yeah, I'd like some water as well. Drinks come with no problem. . .well, except the "chocoate" milk wasn't really chocolate. It had virtually no chocolate. Apparently the waitress makes it herself and does not have any children of her own, because this was not chocolate. Well, the kids all try it, and are trying to be sooo good that they don't complain, but I can see they aren't going to drink it and they should have chocolate milk, like they ordered, right?? Right - so I stop our waitress and ask her to fix it, which really seemed to fluster her as she didn't know exactly how she was going to do that. I suggested bringing them each a small cup of chocolate and I would fix it for them. After fretting for another 60 seconds, that is exactly what she did and all was well. Shortly, the food arrives and everyone digs it. It is really good. . .but then I realize that it's too good and my eggs are not egg substitute, but real eggs, plus my toast has butter. I don't eat real eggs and I don't eat butter. So I ask the waitress if she can please bring me some dry toast, I will put a little preserves on it and I tell her that my omelet is not made with substitute. She goes to her manager and tells her, who in turn goes to the cook and tells him, who in turns swears he used egg substitute. Ok, people, I might as well be up front about this now. . . I'm the type of person who expects things to be as they should. I'm not high maintenance or anything like that, but I expect to receive what I order and get what I'm paying for and I'm not afraid to say something when things aren't right. I have to do my job correctly and if I make a mistake, uuumm, I have to fix it. Isn't that how things are supposed to work?? So, the waitress comes over and says, well, I talked to my manager and the cook said he used substitute, soooo. . . . I was like, well, I know it is real egg, no matter what your cook says, so I guess I'll just eat my toast. She scurries away and as I'm taking dd9 to the bathroom, I pass by the manager and a couple other waitresses, I hear them talking about me. So, me being me, I stop, with my daughter by my side and politely ask if there was something they wanted to ask me?? The look on their faces was priceless! I sent dd on to the bathroom and stood their, smiling, while they gasped and gaped and finally walked away, except for the manager. She tried to give me some line of crap about how they were just discussing another lady who had reported the same problem but she was lying. . .I was like, I caught you talking about me and shame on you. Be a big enough person to at the very least say I'm sorry. The good news is I don't live anywhere near here. . that's good for both you and I. . . and I will never have to step foot in this restaurant again. For your information, I did not want my meal comped, I'm perfectly able and willing to pay for what I order, but how do you know I don't have a severe allergy to eggs?? I don't choose to eat eggs, so you are lucky there, but you should be wary that your lying cook doesn't feed someone with an egg allergy real eggs. You will likely end up being sued and lose your job because you aren't very good at it and for your customer's sake, that should probably happen sooner than later. However, the rest of my family very much enjoyed their meal, so thanks for that. Have a very nice day! Stunned, speechless, loss of blood to the facial region with the exception of bright, flaming red cheeks the manager could only nod as I walked to the bathroom to check on dd9 and I could barely contain myself at this point. I was very angry at the whole situation, but I also found it amusing that they got SO FREAKIN BUSTED talking about me. I could have simply walked on, left it alone and maybe I should have, however, perhaps she will think twice before they do something like that again. Fortunately we were ready to leave when dd and I came back from the restroom and the manager had escaped outside to smoke (saw her on the way out) and as my family went out the door, I stopped to have a word with our waitress. We are generous tippers. You basically start at 15% and it can go up or down. Generally we will tip 20% for good service, and rarely, if ever, tip less than 15%. I knew dh was not happy with the way I had been treated, so I was certain he only left a small tip, which was probably more than they deserved, but I felt sorry for the waitress once I had encountered her manager and truly realized why this place was being managed so poorly and there was no value placed on customer service or satisfaction, so when I stopped to have a word with her, I handed her a generous tip and told her, with the manager now inside from her smoke and eavesdropping, that I understood this was not her fault and she was not the one being unprofessional and actually talking about a customer who was still in the place and told her I felt very sorry for her since she had to work under the current management and thought that maybe she would be a great server at another establishment. Wished her luck, handed her some cash and out the door I went without a look back. Dang it, I'm hungry!!! Stupid toast and coffee. . . . oh well, I've got yogurt in the cooler.

So, now that we have this out of the way, we can move forward with a drama-free vacation. . . uuhhh, yea, NOT! Nothing as dramatic as this, but there's definitely stuff that happened.

Next up, arrival at Nickelodeon Family Suites.

tlinus

05-14-2008, 05:04 PM

strap me in.......its going to be a long ride

:lmao: :lmao:

i like the details of the story - makes it easier to visualize

angela3676

05-14-2008, 05:25 PM

:lmao: I am loving your report so far. You are funny and smart. I think you handled the IHOP situation very well, at least better than I would have. I'm looking forward to reading more. Um, will there be pictures on this trip report? Just askin, lov pics. :upsidedow

wwessing

05-14-2008, 05:47 PM

Yes, I have pics. . . 584 of them!! I've loaded them to my computer, but need to upload to photobucket. The problem is, the last few pics I've posted aren't sized correctly and I don't know how to fix it. So, someone help me out and I'll post pics. . . I've got food pics and all kinds of stuff! No worries, I won't post all of them :goodvibes

And yes, it's likely to be a loooonng ride! I like the details too and couldn't get enough when I was planning. I promised that when I wrote a trippie, there would be details, details and more details. It's taken me a while to get started, but I'll keep after it, as time allows, and I'll not give up on the details as I go along. I can even include the price of meals if folks are interested. My travel book is loaded with those details. I kept every receipt for every single purchase. . .ok, ok, we lost a few, but not many. I literally have hundreds of receipts, but mostly that was so I could match the credit card charges. Dudes. . .I even have a menu from Finnegans. . yes, an actual menu! The waiter gave me one so I could accurately report on the dishes we ordered. I've got pics of some of it. . .much of the time we were so hungry I forgot to get pics before we dug in - but what I've got is really good!

LeslieR

05-14-2008, 08:57 PM

oh yeah, keep it coming! Details and more details, I want to hear every minute. I love the descriptive way you write...I'll be watching for more!

t-and-a

05-15-2008, 12:36 AM

Hi Wendy! Welcome home! I can't wait to read about your experiences at the parks! I hope they were better than what you encountered on the way!Yes, I have pics. . . 584 of them!! I've loaded them to my computer, but need to upload to photobucket. The problem is, the last few pics I've posted aren't sized correctly and I don't know how to fix it. So, someone help me out and I'll post pics. . . I've got food pics and all kinds of stuff! No worries, I won't post all of them :goodvibes

It's easy to re-size photos on photobucket. There is an option to resize your photo and you can even just click "message board size" and it does it all for you. You will have to choose whether you want to overwrite your original or rename it.

macraven

05-15-2008, 07:13 AM

hope to read more of your trippie very soon!

marciemi

05-15-2008, 07:14 AM

Hi Wendy - stopping in to catch up and enjoying it so far!

Alison - I've had the same problem on photobucket lately too. Before I always used all those size options without problem. Now I've found that pretty much no matter what I choose, they'll appear huge on a thread. Then sometime later when I go back to the thread, somehow they'll be tiny. :confused3 I'm choosing the same option I normally used or even one smaller. I think somehow it's the computer's memory and although it looks right to others, on my computer I see the original until I restart the computer if that makes sense.

Wendy - go ahead and post the pics - if they're too small or too big, we'll at least enjoy seeing them! :thumbsup2

RVGal

05-15-2008, 09:43 AM

Photobucket recently changed/upgraded their site, including the "edit" options. Once you've uploaded your pic to Photobucket, there will be 5 words on top of the picture. Choose the one in the middle that says "edit". Once the edit page load, click on the "Fullscreen" button above your picture. Next, click the "Resize" button. Use the pulldown menu that says "Preset Sizes" and choose "Message Board".

Once you've done all that, you'll need to click "Save". An option will pop up to "overwrite the existing file" or to "save a copy". Here is the problem I have been having since the new and improved Photobucket started. If you overwrite your exisitng file, it will NOT change the size. You HAVE to save a copy and then use the new link to get the new size picture.

I have fought with it and fought with it, but that is the only way I can get the new resizing program to work. :confused3

marciemi

05-15-2008, 10:29 AM

Okay, Tricia - I'm hijacking this thread to try this out (hopefully it will help you too Wendy so it won't be a total hijack!). I just grabbed a pic from the soccer tournament (so I know it hasn't been resized before) and followed your steps. It seems like a lot more work than just hitting the "resize" button like I always used to do! :confused3

My attempt:

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y290/marciemi/389620-R2-012-4A_029-1.jpg

marciemi

05-15-2008, 10:33 AM

Well, I guess it worked! Maybe you can do the same too Wendy!

While I have a minute, I wanted to share a story with you regarding your IHOP experience! Our "best" experience ever came from an IHOP as well - probably 10 years ago now back when the boys were little. We went to one near our home in Michigan, along with Grandma, and all ordered.

Well, time passes. And more time passes. And I have 3 hungry hyperactive preschool boys who aren't doing so well at sitting anymore. Finally I get up and go find a manager. Who asks where we're sitting. And then tells us basically, sorry, but your server quit! :confused3 After taking our order. And taking her pad with her and of course never placing the order!

Wow - I hadn't thought we were being that difficult. Of course we had to start all over again and they were short-staffed (obviously!) and it took forever. But now whenever we're at a restaurant and it's taking a long time, we're always like "Uh, oh, our server must have quit again!" ;)

RVGal

05-15-2008, 10:45 AM

It seems like a lot more work than just hitting the "resize" button like I always used to do! :confused3

It IS a lot more work than it used to be! Then, the "overwrite" option doesn't even work! Thanks for the upgrade Photobucket. :headache:

phamton

05-15-2008, 10:50 AM

I'm excited to read the rest of your report with or without pictures.

keishashadow

05-15-2008, 11:48 AM

wow, don't think i've ever read a description of such a bad breakfast...and at a place that probably has made a zillion of them. i've never eaten @ an IHOP, not sure i ever will now

hope u it didn't foreshadow the tone for the rest of the trip:wizard:

tarheelmjfan

05-15-2008, 02:46 PM

Wendy, this is a great trippie. I can't wait for more. Oh yeah, ignore phamton. We want pics. :laughing:

bubba's mom

05-15-2008, 02:56 PM

Sorry to hear your vacay started out on the wrong foot....from the dog, to the van, to breakfast :headache: ....but, a bad day on vacay is better than a good day at home :p

btw... I resize my pix on my computer BEFORE i upload them to photobucket...nobody else does this?? :confused3

marciemi

05-15-2008, 04:29 PM

btw... I resize my pix on my computer BEFORE i upload them to photobucket...nobody else does this?? :confused3

I don't because I might want the originals for some reason some day at the full size (ie clearer picture).

pixeegrl

05-15-2008, 07:34 PM

I don't because I might want the originals for some reason some day at the full size (ie clearer picture).

You can resize them and save a copy of the ones you want to use. Then you still have your originals.:banana:

bubba's mom

05-15-2008, 09:05 PM

::yes:: I resize them and still have the originals.... :thumbsup2

Apparently, according to DH, it's a program Windows uses... don't know what it is, but I do know he installed it on my laptop for me :confused3

wwessing

05-15-2008, 09:48 PM

So I'm uploading some pics to photobucket right now and we will see what happens.

On with the story. . . . .

After our wonderful experience at IHOP. . . btw, we have eaten at IHOPs across the nation and never before had an experience quite like that. We have had not so great service a time or two, but nothing to prevent us from going back. We will continue to go to IHOP from time to time, just never to THAT one again. I am going to write to the owner as well. . . .anyway. . . .

Back in the van and program gps with the address for Nickelodeon Family Suites. You all know that Nick does not have a great reputation. I've read some horrible reports along with some that are great. So I am a bit nervous about what we will encounter, but it's for the kids and we will deal with whatever comes our way. I have spoken with their staff and management several times over the months previous to the trip due to our special needs and just a couple days before called and confirmed that all was set and taken care of.

So we don't have too long of a drive now and everyone is awake and refreshed after breakfast and ready to go. Dh and I have decided to go to Nick hotel first, see what's going on, then venture out as we are fairly certain the room won't be ready quite so early and we have planned to visit that ginormous McDonald's Bistro and I've decided I hate my new socks so I need to find a Gold Toe store and get some REAL socks. I bought some silver toe socks, but they ain't the gold baby! Dd15 just inherited a whole slew of new socks, which she will love since they barely cover the ankle. So, an uneventful drive to Orlando ensues, through the tolls with no problem since I planned ahead and we had correct change on hand and it isn't long before we roll up on Nick hotel. I unfortunately did not get any pics because I was way too busy gawking, so sorry for that, but believe me when I tell you that if you have kids you will understand when I tell you this place is WAY COOL! The building is just so. . . well, so Nickelodeon and the grounds are very nice. Landscaping is well maintained and pretty. They are very security minded and you can not pull into the parking lot, even to check in, without first stopping at the security gate. . . .unless you have the magic slime green placard that it. So, stop and check in with security and drive right into a parking spot near the front door. Inside we go and are very happy to see that since it is well before noon, there's not very many people. Get in line and wait my turn. I'll digress and say that there was some irate lady hanging out at the end of the registration area and while I did not hear what her issues were, she was not happy. I'll must also say that they were not moving very quickly and I would hate to be in line during a busy time. Perhaps they have more help then, or move quicker, but there was only like one family ahead of us. It seemed to take a long time. While we are waiting, Squidward shows up and we get some pics. http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0343.jpg So I guess this will do for now. It doesn't appear to be very clear here though. I'll try to work with it later.

Finally, it's our turn and check in goes just fine. Our room is not ready, but that's ok, we've got some errands to run. Nice check in guy explains how things work and gives us our wrist bands, which you must wear during your entire stay or risk being stopped by security, and says the nice lady over at that desk has a treat for the kids. So, we step over, kids get their treat which is a packaged tray of Spongebob show gummy things. Kids are excited over that, but now we have to listen to 5 minutes of nice lady trying to get us to sign up for a timeshare presentation for the next day. Sorry, nice lady, but we don't want to, thank you very much. So, check in taken care of, back to the van we go. We have decided we will give luggage dude our bags when we return, rather than have them in the holding area while we run errands. We picked up a few brochures in the lobby and have a couple of malls to choose from. We call and find one with a Gold Toe store, program gps and off we go. Drive right to the mall, find our store and in we go. Yeah, they have my socks and not only that, they have this way cool sale on dh's socks too. He gets more than me, but hey, he doesn't get to wear cute little sandals that definitely don't require gold toe's so he wears socks more than me. Dd15 decides she needs a bathroom and an inquiry to the gold toe worker lady about where is the closest potty yields us the offer of using the bathroom right in the back room. How nice!! Thanks so much!! 2 minutes later dd15 comes out with this panicked look and says, really loud, "I have to go back to the van, so give me the keys because I JUST STARTED". Welllll, alrighty then! I said, can you hang on for 2 minutes because we are finished and just checking out and I will take you to the van then back to a restroom and she says "NO - I NEED SOMETHING NOW". Very, extremely nice gold toe lady says I have something I'll be glad to give you. . .I've been in your situation before. So problem taken care of and both dd15 and I are upset because it's the first day of vacation and we have LOTS of pool time coming up! Well, good thing we have already talked about this and practiced using something that will allow her to swim. For those of you who don't know, dd15 has special needs and surprised are NOT a good thing. We must plan and prepare and know exactly what to expect, so this happening was not good. I completely was prepared for a meltdown, but was so happy when she handled it well, took care of herself, said a very nice thank you to gold toe lady, who btw, gave us an additional discount off our already way discounted items. We got the best bargain of our whole vacation right then and there. . . actually the best bargain we've ever gotten on gold toe socks. Glad we decided to buy quite a few and stock up so when she offered the additional discount I was not compelled to go, oh, wait, let me be greedy and get some more. We had plenty and were very thankful and appreciative. Back to the van, where I was again expecting some problems, but dd was so totally not worked up I couldn't believe it. She was like good thing we've been practicing, huh? So I told her how mature she was behaving and how proud we were than she handled that situation so well and, darn it, you're going to have fun and nothing is going to get in the way!! :yay: K, so back to the van and program gps with Mickey D's address. It's lunch time by now and kids are hungry. Off we go and drive right to the door. Out of the van and in we go. . .HOLY MOLY. . this place is PACKED and REALLY, REALLY, REALLY LOUD!!!! As I discover after a while, there is some kind of youth group outing going on and tons and tons and tons of basically unsupervised youngsters getting food and playing and generally causing chaos. So the lines are way long, but we are here to stay so pick a line and get in it. I had a couple coupons so that dd9 & 11 got their meals free. I had a second coupon we didn't need, so I tap this guy in line next to us to offer the coupon, and he jumps and spins around and has this look of terror on his face. . . oops, sorry I startled you dude, just wanted to offer this coupon. Oh, ok, thanks nice lady. Uh, dude, you got the mafia after you or something? So after just a few minutes, it's our turn to order. You place your order at a register 20 feet or so before the actual counter, then you que up in the next line to actually get your food and pay. We got the kids meals, but dh and I had ordered a salad and sandwich plate from the bistro menu and had to wait for that. Off to find a table with the kids food in hand and go to the drink bar to fill up cups. Easily find a couple tables next to each other, so girls at one, us at the other and spread out their food while they get their drinks. They are completely fascinated with this place and can't seem to get their food in the mouths because their heads keep turning.:lmao: DH goes to the bistro counter and picks up our food and we share it. I actually got a picture of the sandwich plate because it's not like any Mcdonald's I'ver ever had before.
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0336.jpg
So, kids finish eating and off they go to explore and play games. Dh finishes up and wanders off to explore and I'm left sitting by myself, which is ok, and I enjoy finishing my meal and people watching. This is when I discover the youth group chaperones trying to round up all their charges and get them on their buses. Oh, ok, so it's not usually this chaotic and LOUD. Now that 60% of the kids are gone, the noise level has been reduced by about 80% and it is actually not bad at all. I watch a young couple do that dancing game thing and chuckle to myself as the younger brother of one of young parents is trying to keep sippie cup and pacifier in the stroller of they baby who wants to throw it out. I heard no less than 4 different languages and felt humbled when a young family of 4 said a prayer before their meal. Dug quarters and one dollar bills out of baggallini for kids. . .and dh. . .and watched and they each won a very nice bouncy balls out of some crane machine. Finally dh determines that we have spent enough money on games (uuuhhh, I didn't spend a dime on games and so watch your we's mister) and so we should go back to Nick to check on our room status. Here's some random pics during the lunch break.
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0332.jpg
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0335.jpg
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0338.jpg

So these pics look horrible. They are actually very clear and crisp but are not transferring that way. We were so happy with our new camera and the beautiful pics is took. I'm very disappointed in the quality showing up here. Dang!
Next up. . . Back to Nickelodeon Family Suites.

wwessing

05-15-2008, 09:59 PM

Sorry to hear your vacay started out on the wrong foot....from the dog, to the van, to breakfast :headache: ....but, a bad day on vacay is better than a good day at home :p

You know, none of it bothered me. It was so way cool. Things just seem to be like happening to someone else and I thought it was funny. Later in the vacation my kids got seriously on my nerves a couple times, but for the most part, I think I vacationed with someone else's patience!

Plus, I'm giving you the good, bad and ugly. I could leave out details like eeewww, that van is nasty, but I wanna share it all!:rotfl2:

wwessing

05-15-2008, 10:02 PM

LeslieR

05-16-2008, 09:35 AM

That gold toe lady was awesome! What a great start (or mid-morning) to the day...

Can't wait for more!

tlinus

05-16-2008, 10:33 AM

I like the small details:thumbsup2

waiting for more :rolleyes1

wwessing

05-16-2008, 11:32 AM

Return to Nickelodeon Family Suites -

So this time we have the magic slime green placard and get right through the security gates without stopping at the guard station. . . guess we are officially guests! :cool1: Fortune gives us another parking spot right outside the entrance so back inside we go. This time, there are a few families in line, and one of the desk clerks is training a new person. The priority club desk is busy and getting in that line won't be beneficial, so in line I go while my family lounges around. Wait wasn't TOO bad. 15 minutes or something like that and it's my turn. Room number assigned, keys provided (let me tell you about the keys. . they are credit card sized, but completely blank. White with nothing on them and all you do is pass the card in front of the door lock or security gate entrance and voila, you've got entry. . . uuummm, does that sound naughty??) So back outside where dh hustles up luggage. . .ok, another aside here. . .I dont really know what those guys are callled. Bell hops, luggage assistants, what?? We will call them luggage dudes. . . so chief luggage dude assignes a worker luggage dude to get our bags. We give him the room number and he tells dh where to park. By the time we piled in the van, drove around behind building 8, parked and located our room, luggage dude was there unloading our stuff. This is the first of many comments on how heavy the "drinks" suitcase was. We never told anyone what was in there, and each luggage dude than handled it commented. I think the most popular guess was books. Ok, who carries around a GIANT suitcase full of books?? Allright, so who carried around a GIANT suitcase of drinks?? In my world, drinks make much more sense than books when on an extended vacation to hot, sunny Florida with a trio of children. I digress. . . so luggage stowed, rooms explored and kids are frantic to get down to that pool! We've got easy access as we packed a "swim bag" with suits, towels, sunscreen, etc. Everyone gets ready and to the pool we go! It is PACKED. We can find only one lounge chair to set up our stuff, so kids and dh race off to get in the pool and I set up our one chair and sit down to relax for a few minutes. After sitting there for a few minutes, it seems to me that there is really no one using the chair next to me, so I throw off the used pool towel and put a couple of our towels on it. I had read that the pool towels were basically thread-bare and useless at this hotel, so we came prepared with our own. They weren't THAT bad, and my kids would have been fine with them. I, however, was glad to have my own large towels which more appropriately fit my large butt!!

I would like to address the Nick hotel naysayers. If you had a bad experience, I am sorry. Our experience for the 3 days and nights we were there was wonderful. Even knowing we were moving to HRH, we were sad to leave. Our room was clean, our bed was comfortable enough (come on, it's a hotel, not home for goodness sake), the kids didn't complain about the hide a bed or the twin bunks. Let me emphasize our room was clean. That included the bathroom and my only gripe about that would be the laundry line above the tub really needed replacing. We didn't use it, but it was as simple as that. The kitchenette area was nice. There was a sink, microwave, mini fridge with a freezer, coffe maker, etc. Our second day there, the housekeeper gave us almost a full box of popsicles for the kids. We froze some and put the others in the fridge, but forgot about them, so the next guests had a nice frozen treat waiting for them. The self service laundry facilites were fine, though some of the machines could use an upgrade. Here's a tip, don't use a dryer that doesn't close tightly. One of the dryers we used was a little older and the door didn't close and seal as it probably should have and when dh went back to get the laundry, all of it was dry with the exception of the clothes in that dryer. Not complaining cuz that was our own bad. . .we should have used a different dryer. We did laundry on Sunday afternoon and had 4 loads :scared1: We've only been gone since Thursday afternoon, but honestly that's about what we would have had at home, AND we washed all our beach towels. TIP: We took our own liquid detergent, dryer sheets and had 10 rolls of quarters. The washers and dryers at Nick were like $2 each, or something like that, so it was about $4 per load to wash and dry, but would have been quite a bit more if we had to purchase supplies from the machine and they were very limited. We did not take bleach since we didn't want to risk spillage.

Here's some room pics:
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0346.jpg
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0347.jpg
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0348.jpg
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0349.jpg
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0350.jpg
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0352.jpg
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0353.jpg
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0357.jpg
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0351.jpg
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0354.jpg
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0355.jpg

Here's some pool pics:
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0508.jpg
My Honey
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/83143887.jpg
My girls all huddled up in the middle. . . see dd9 waving
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/0035c31e.jpg

Here's sliming pic taken from the balcony outside our room:

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0517.jpg

Sliming was every day at 4:45. Our kids made it each of the 3 days we were there.

After a long afternoon in the pool, we were ready for dinner. We had decided we wanted to go to Sweet Tomatoes, so once everyone was ready and loaded in the van, we programed our beloved gps and off we went. No pics, but the food was good and everyone got something they liked. Sweet Tomates is a buffet style restaurant. We had a gift card so only paid for the girls and tip. There was a huge salad bar, a pasta area, dessert area, drink station, soups galore and a variety of bread. The people clearing tables did a great job and brought my kids freshly baked chocolate chip cookies which were not available on the dessert bar. They have a pasta station where they will fix your pasta dish however you want it. Dd9 is a little picky about her sauce, so she loved this place. I was able to build my own beautiful salad, get some excellent low fat soup and even some fat free chili. Passed on dessert, bread and pasta, but didn't feel like I missed anything.

Back to the room for a good nights rest as dh and I have not slept for more than a couple hours since Wednesday night. We are exhausted! And, we have an early day tomorrow as Saturday is our first of two SeaWorld days. I have tons and tons of SW pics. . .especially some beautiful pics of the dolphins as we feed them. Geez, is it still Friday??

Coming up. . our amazing days at SeaWorld! Saturday and Sunday

:rolleyes1 waiting for photobucket to load pics so I can add them:mad:

pixeegrl

05-16-2008, 01:40 PM

Glad you had a good experience! I have been debating taking the boys (3 of em too) on our trip but with all the bad reviews I had decided not to. Maybe now thanks to your TR I will give it some more thought! Were you in a regular room or did you have some type of deluxe?

wwessing

05-16-2008, 05:59 PM

We had a 2 bedroom suite I think they call it. It has a parent room with a queen bed I believe, might have been king though. It has a childs room with bunk beds, tv, game console and it had a pull out sofa bed. It more than comfortably slept 5. We had plenty of room, even some privacy which was nice.

We originally had Nick hotel on our itinerary, then cancelled it mostly due to cost. Our kids were upset and we decided what the heck. It was close to what we paid for HRH and is not close to a 4 diamond hotel. Having said that, the room was clean, in a nice location, there was good service as far as housekeeping was concerned. You could, and I think many or most did, stay on the grounds without leaving and have plenty to do. There are several places to eat, an arcade, lots of activities for the kids and that's not even including the pool. We didn't do alot of things because we were otherwise occupied with SeaWorld and we didn't want to stay and eat onsite. We had identified several restaurants outside of Universal that we wanted to visit and this was the best time. I would say my kids could have easily stayed happy and occupied for 3 full days before getting bored and wanting to move on.

I think that maybe people are paying quite high rates and expecting more. I got a great tip from another diser and was able to reduce my rates a bit. Plus, I had reserved many months in advance. You can get a better rate if you can catch the AAA rate, which I highly recommend. Plus there are discounted rates out there so don't accept rack rate. If you go during peak season, just like anywhere else, you are going to pay much higher rates. I have no issues with what we got for our money because I was not expecting to be staying at the Ritz. This part of vacation was definitely for our kids and they absolutely loved it so we achieved our goal regarding Nickelodeon Family Suites.

The key to staying here is plan way in advance. Keep checking rates often and if you get a AAA rate book it! They go fast. Don't expect a deluxe hotel. It is nice enough as you can see from my pics. Expect it to be overpriced. You aren't paying for luxury here, you are paying for the NICK name. Your kids have probably seen the place on Nickelodeon, so of course they want to go. There's not much adult entertainment, so if you know that going in, you won't be disappointed. If you are content sitting by the pool, having a few cocktails, watching your kids have the time of their life, or joining them, you won't be disappointed. You can rent a cabana and make a day of it. Every day we were there the cabanas were all rented and people brought all kids of stuff down. We saw coolers, suitcases full of stuff, giant bottles of booze and yes, we saw a couple very intoxicated folks over the 3 days we were there. It wasn't like there were 20 drunks, but we probably noticed twice that someone had over indulged. I guess that's what some people do when there's nothing else to entertain them. They were not obnoxious, dangerous or in any way interfered with our vacation. They were just people having a good time and did not bother others. We saw all kinds of everything there. Parents fighting, kids being bratty, stupid people, but mostly we just saw people having fun and enjoying themselves.

We enjoyed a couple of cocktails by the pool, and they were very yummy, but costly. . .maybe $8-9 per drink after tip and they weren't in giant glasses either. Regular, plastic beer cups. I stopped drinking them because sweet, yummy drinks like that make me feel sick after one or two. We played with our kids in the water, laughed at them getting slimed and just enjoyed ourselves. Keep in mind we were only actually at the resort Friday for about half the day; Saturday after 3:00 and Sunday after 3:00. They would play for a couple hours, get slimed and then get ready for dinner. I would have liked one more day to just let them enjoy the resort.

We were not over impressed with the arcade and felt is was a little small for this type of hotel. We didn't eat any meals there, so cannot comment about the food.

I hope this helps. PM me if you have questions. . .I'll be glad to share our experience with you.

keishashadow

05-16-2008, 07:19 PM

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0352.jpg
how'd u get a picture of my bedroom?:laughing:

now, i want to stay here once, nicer than the other pics i've seen...wish i had listed to jr's urging.

pixeegrl

05-17-2008, 09:22 AM

wwessing

05-17-2008, 09:42 AM

Wow! Thanks for all the input. I think we may book it for at least one night. I know the kids would really love it, and we're not looking for a luxury hotel, just a place the kids can have fun. You should put your review on the Orlando Hotels section of the DIS. I think many more people would benefit from your experience! I do have a couple questions but will pm you like you asked. Thanks again!

I hadn't even thought about that. I generally only post here on the dark side. I'll will give it come consideration.

BTW, I forgot to mention that Nick Hotel has been bought by the Marriott chain. I believe they take over next year, so would expect some renovations soon. We noticed a few things that were kind of "tired" at Nick, but knowing Marriott is taking over in 2009, we realize they aren't going to do much more than the basics now. There was a bit of construction going on while we were there, but I never could figure out just what they were doing and it didn't in any way interfere with us. I would expect the place to be quite a bit different in a couple years. We are returning in 2010 for another Uni vacation, but had kind of decided that while our kids LOVED Nick Hotel, they would be 11, 13 & 17 by then and pretty much too old to really enjoy it. I guess if they really want to, we might consider a night or perhaps two.

I'll try to dig out our room number and post that as well. I know we were in building 7, in a corner room right near the elevators. Yes, we heard kids running up and down the walkway sometimes, but nothing ever bothered us, it wasn't crazy noisy like some reviews I've read. Honestly, we heard more noise at HRH than we did at NICK. . . but it didn't bother us either. We thought maybe the walls were a little thin because sometimes we could hear noises from the room on the one side of us, but nothing you don't encounter at basically ANY hotel you stay at. It's like living in an apartment complex.

tlinus

05-20-2008, 01:36 PM

popcorn:: popcorn::

:rolleyes1

popcorn:: popcorn::

wwessing

05-20-2008, 08:35 PM

popcorn:: popcorn::

:rolleyes1

popcorn:: popcorn::

I know, I know. . . :confused3

macraven

05-20-2008, 10:53 PM

i'm waiting also.............popcorn::

goofygirl64

05-21-2008, 05:47 AM

[QUOTE=wwessing;25144650]Return to Nickelodeon Family Suites -

After a long afternoon in the pool, we were ready for dinner. We had decided we wanted to go to Sweet Tomatoes, so once everyone was ready and loaded in the van, we programed our beloved gps and off we went. No pics, but the food was good and everyone got something they liked. Sweet Tomates is a buffet style restaurant. We had a gift card so only paid for the girls and tip. There was a huge salad bar, a pasta area, dessert area, drink station, soups galore and a variety of bread. The people clearing tables did a great job and brought my kids freshly baked chocolate chip cookies which were not available on the dessert bar. They have a pasta station where they will fix your pasta dish however you want it. Dd9 is a little picky about her sauce, so she loved this place. I was able to build my own beautiful salad, get some excellent low fat soup and even some fat free chili. Passed on dessert, bread and pasta, but didn't feel like I missed anything.

How much was Sweet Tomatoes per person? Did it include a beverage?:surfweb:

bubba's mom

05-21-2008, 12:43 PM

:surfweb:

wwessing

05-24-2008, 08:58 AM

How much was Sweet Tomatoes per person? Did it include a beverage?:surfweb:

The best I can tell you is this. . . we had a gift card for two adult meals including drinks, so dh and I were paid for. We paid $26 for meals and drinks for dd9, dd11, dd15. I'm thinking adult meals, for supper, are around $9-10, plus drinks.

wwessing

05-24-2008, 07:46 PM

:rotfl2: Ok, I am officially adding a very important addendum to the Friday activities above. Upon a recommendation from Kelly Monaghan, we had in mind to find a place called The Dessert Lady. It is a small, cozy place that serves coffee and deserts. After dinner at Sweet Tomatoes, we didn't feel like going right back to the hotel, so we drove around a bit. DH and I decided that while dinner was good, we were ready for something sophisticated and sweet. I had located The Dessert Lady's address, so programed it into gps and we headed in that direction. Kids were drooping in the back, so by the time we arrived, they did not want to get out. Fine with us, we will go in, get some dessert and take it back to the hotel. We were very surprised when we walked in. It is a very small, storefront place that very much resembled a bar. As we went in, there were people at most of the few tables, as well as at the "bar". I believe there was a selection of wine, but I noticed the dessert selections, obviously, as well as the coffee offerings. DH and I are handed a very nice leather folio, explain we are interested only in something to carry out and spend a few minutes perusing the menu. Since we can't decide, we agree to take the sampler option, which is small samplings of 4 different items. We chose bread pudding, cheesecake with strawberry topping, oreo cheesecake with the kids in mind and, I believe, the final choice was pecan pie. I passed on a coffee because I was already full, but I wanted room to taste the deserts, so we sat down right inside the door and waited the few minutes it took for them to put together our order. The total was $25.26 for the sampler, plus whatever DH tipped since the young man who assisted us snagged the last piece of bread pudding for our order, as we heard when he went to the table next to us and told them they just sold out. Actually, those folks had ordered before us, so we looked at each other and kept expecting to be asked to chose something else since we knew the bread pudding was gone. To our delight, well. . . especially dh's delight since he's the lover of bread pudding, our order was brought to us shortly after that, complete with the pudding. We looked confused, obviously, so with a wink from our host, we graciously accept the bag and I'd imagine he got himself a nice tip from dh.

Back to the van, where two girls were sleeping and dd15 was anxiously awaiting the bag. Boy was she mad when we didn't have a treat to hand her to munch on in the car. If I haven't stated this before, dd15 is a sugar addict. Seriously. . . part of her disability is a fixation with and addiction to candy, ice cream, cookies, soda, generally sweets of any kind. We have to monitor her closely, but she is SERIOUS about her candy. Part of what we deal with is that though she is 15, she's really not. She does not share, at all and what is hers is hers and what is others is hers. She eats her meals really, really fast so that she can have more of what she liked before anyone else; she will eat whatever she has as fast as she can so she can try to beg more from others. She will do whatever she has to in order to get more sweets. . . lie, beg and yes, even steal (only from her sibs, not from a store or anything). I found her hiding in her room one day, with my purse dumped out on her bed, looking through it for gum or mints. I digress, soooo, anyway, dd15 was not happy, started pouting and within minutes, was closing her eyes and relaxing. . .whew, I really saw a meltdown coming. Guess the full belly, quiet, dark evening and motion of the moving vehicle helped her relax. In a short time we were back at Nick Hotel, unloading some very sleepy, not to mention, grouchy children. Finally get them all out, herded to the room and they were in their pj's and in bed in record time. Guess they had forgotten about the dessert we had stopped for. . . . oops, guess we will have to hit it without them. So 30 minutes later, dh and I are settled in bed, gleefully contemplating the plastic containers of goodies. Ok, so after sitting there, looking at each other, I open the containers, grab forks and can't decide what I want to try first. Remembering at that moment that it has been months and months since I've eaten anything remotely as rich and sinful as any of this and remind myself a taste only, otherwise I will likely regret it. I say as much to dh and he says he was thinking the same thing. Unfortunately, this took some of the joy away from the experience because we were worried about making ourselves sick with the rich, sugary food. Ok, lets start with a taste of the bread pudding since it's probably the least sinful. DH, apparently the King, sits patiently waiting for me to get his taste and feed it to him. . .what the . . . ok, ok, ok, so to the horror of all my female homies out there, I'm keepin it real. . .I do it all the time. :scared1: :rolleyes: :guilty: I know, I know, I KNOW! :rolleyes1 I do it, that's the way it is, I've admitted it and now we can move on. So, he declares the pudding to be yummy, and I take a taste. It's good, but my delight is more in the richer, chocolately arena. Next up is the cheesecake. The King gets his bite, which apparently leaves him speechless, and I take a taste. Yum, yum, yum! It is sooooo good. We take a tiny bite of those two again and decide that's enough, so we put it in the fridge for another time. I give very high marks to The Dessert Lady, and great big thanks to Kelly for the heads up!!!! I highly recommend you take the time to find and visit The Dessert Lady. We would have liked to sat down and enjoyed some wine or coffee as well, but, some things are not meant to be when on a FAMILY vacation I guess.

Now, on to Saturday. . .

Where was I. . . .ahhh, yes. . . our wonderful, beautiful, perfectly fabulous 2 days at SeaWorld!

Saturday, April 26

Up early, as SeaWorld opens at 9:00 and we want to be in the parking lot at 8:30. Breakfast in the room, so cereal, juice, carnation instant breakfast, special K bars. Into the van, program gps and on our way. We arrive at SeaWorld right around 8:30 and there is a bit of a line at the gates. I think they opened the parking tolls right at 8:30. There were probably 40 vehicles in all the lanes in front of us, so we were actually right near the front. We decide to pay the extra few dollars and splurge on premiere parking which was $15 as opposed to $10. We were literally parked 50 yards from the main entrance and, in my estimation, we WAY worth the extra $5. We had tickets, so no need to wait in that line. Past that to the gate, which they do not open until maybe 8:45. Into the park we go, grab a map and a quick stop at the very first vendor we see for visors for dd9 and dd11. . . dd15 wants nothing to do with a visor, or a hat, so ok, who's gonna be sorry later today??? So with our very first souveniers purchased, we head to towards Dolphin Cove. As we round the bend, we see a large group of people milling around. We quickly realize that while they have let us in the gates a few minutes early, we aren't getting into the park proper until 9:00 am - ON THE NOSE! A minute before 9:00 the national anthem is played, ropes removed and everyone swarms in the same direction we are going. Uh oh, we realize everyone is going the same place, so lets pick up the pace a bit. We fast walk directly to where the dolphin feeding is going to take place at 9:15am, get in line and really, there are only maybe 25 others ahead of us, not so bad. Again at EXACTLY 9:15 they open the window to sell the fish, but only after give instructions on how to feed those beautiful, wonderous dolphins! Not long and it's our turn. DH wants to know how much to buy, so we decide 8 trays is enough. He pays. . .cash only folks. We were prepared because I knew that from reading these wonderful boards, but not everyone was. It was $6 for a tray of 3 very small fish. Fish in hand, we move down the pool a ways and pick an open spot. DH sets the trays of fish ON THE WALL as directed and places two trays in front of each kid, and two in front of himself. One is for me, but I'm so captivated by the dolphins, I don't care about feeding them. I'm snapping photos every 5 seconds, so got lots of good pics, when I realize all the trays are empty and I didn't get to feed even one little fish. . . then I see dd9 has one left in one of her trays and she is worried because she wants to touch the dolphins but is intimidated by those open mouths and rows of little teeth. I try to help her, but she just can't bring herself to touch one, so I feed the fish to the dolphin with one hand, reach out and touch it with another and feel like something in my life has been completed. I've always though dolphins are beautiful; always been fascinated with them and to be able to see them so close, to feed and touch one was one of the best experiences I've ever had. If we had to go home from vacation right that moment, I would have been ok with it. So, fish gone, tons of pics taken, its time to wash up and move on. Everyone is excited, and smiling and happy. . .then I notice dd9 is in tears. Well. . . . the fish are gone, so are the dolphins and she hasn't touched one. We go back to the wall, hold out our hands in the hope some will come back, but they are interested in the other food being offered. We explain to dd9 that we will be back the next day to feed them again and she will have another opportunity. She's not happy, but it was her choice to not touch when she had the chance. So, buck up little one and try again tomorrow. Fortunately she hasn't lost a rare chance and we ARE coming back the next day. As we were feeding, one of the workers had handed DH some tickets. We find out they are for photos that had been taken, so stop at the kiosks outside the feeding area to take a look. Finally get a computer, figure out how it works and get to look at the pics. They had take a BUNCH of our family. We had like 15 tickets. . . so, we settle on 5 shots, order 8x10's of each and move along to pick them up in the picture hut. DH pays $42.59 and we figure that was not at all bad. The first pic was $20 and each additional was $5, plus tax and they are each in a folder frame. Nice!

Here's some of my favorite pics

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0525.jpg
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0526.jpg
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0528.jpg
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0524.jpg
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0529.jpg
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0530.jpg
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0358.jpg
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0367.jpg

After this, we realize we've spent a LONG time with the dolphins and we wanted to have lunch at Shark's Underwater Grill. We began to quickly make our way to that side of the park so we could get reservations. Once there, it is 10:30 and we thought an early lunch would be just the thing. We made reservations for 11:00, right when they open, since breakfast had been light and very early. Since we only have 30 minutes, we decide to stick around the area. Dh goes to find a restroom and I snap a couple pics of the girls looking in the tanks outside Sharks Grill.

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0375.jpg
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0376.jpg

DH come back and wants to go look at something, so I volunteer to hang around in the event they are not back yet when it's our turn to be seated. I find a comfortable seat right outside the doors of the Grill and people watch. Since I was kind of behind the reservations stand, I watched a steady line of people making reservations for the day. I would recommend if you want to eat there, go as early as possible to make your reservation. I think the ressie stand opens at like 10:00 and there were still people streaming up when we were seated promptly at 11:00.

DH returns with the girls and they sit for only a moment or two before our name is called and we are seated. The restaurant is long and kind of narrow and fairly dim lighting. There are a couple levels of seating. We were seated in a banquet on the lowest level, near the tank. There are tables right next to the tanks, but they were all for 4. We had a very comfortable seat, an excellent view of the tank and nicely set table. Girls warned to be on their best behavior and to use their manners appropriately. Inside voices would be required and absolutely no running around. They were very good.

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0419.jpg

Our waiter was good, but thought he was at Emerils or something. Efficient with no personality and his nose so for up in the air we were afraid if it rained, he would drown! Still, no complaints as I can match attitude for attitude, so he got as good as he gave. We thought his lips twitched in something akin to a smile once, but we could have been mistaken, it might have been gas or his spinchter was clenched too tight. . . not real sure. :rolleyes1

So Stiffy takes our drink order (everyone ordered soft drinks except me and I just had water with lemon), leaves the menus and we work with the girls to get their order settled. They do offer a children's menu and they had no problem with dd15 ordering from it. DD's 15 & 11 decided on Shrimp ($10 each) and dd9 wanted a pasta dish ($7). Our drinks came and we decided we wanted an appetizer. DH ordered stuffed mushrooms ($8.00). After a bit, Stiffy came back and took our entree orders. Kids ordered as described above and dh and I ordered Seafood Trio ($25) and Salmon Filet ($23). Bread was brought to the table, which kids devoured, so it must have been good. I had to ask for more. The appetizer came, which was only like 3 large mushrooms, so we shared that, then the entree's arrived. I did get pics, but I forgot to get the appetizer, I did not take any of the kids meals, but I have the salmon and seafood dishes dh and I ordered.

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0428.jpg
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0432.jpg

After finishing our entree's, we decided we would share a dessert, so dh and kids decided on Shark's Brownie Delight ($7), or something like that. It had fudge brownies, ice cream, chocolate sauce, whipped cream and maybe some caramel sauce. It was VERY rich, VERY yummy and VERY quickly stuck to my hips! I only took a couple bites and quickly dished it out to my family so there would be no temptation. . . . yummm, chocolatey fudgey caramely stuff!

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0433.jpg

Our total, including gratuity, was $126.44. The meal was delicious and I would highly recommend the experience! I've included prices because I know that was a question I had when researching and I have seen this type of question many time on the boards. I hope it helps someone else, and I will try to include those details as much as possible.

Coming soon. . . . . the rest of Saturday and Sunday.

Sorry, I'm wimping out and not finishing the day, but we just grilled out and I'm STUFFED and need to go veg in front of the tube to watch COPS. I grilled chicken breasts, corn on the cob, fresh asparagus and mushrooms and a couple potatoes. We bought fresh strawberries to cut, a fat free angel food cake and some fat free whipped topping for dessert! That's going to have to wait till much later I do think!!

Mrs. D

05-24-2008, 09:41 PM

This is an awesome trip report, my nose is like on the nonitor getting all of the details :lmao:

Funny and real, u kinda sound like me in lots of instances....IHOP was priceless ;)

Love reading it, but take your time, the details are worth the wait :)

wwessing

05-25-2008, 07:22 AM

Ok. . . .I'm back. It's 4:45am, but since I fell asleep before 9:30 last night, I'm wide awake and can't really do anything around the house as I don't want to wake anyone else up . . . . well, that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it

Let me put some coffee on and I'll finish up Saturday, at least. Ok, coffee is dripping and pics for this segment are uploading to photobucket. So while all that is going on, I thought I would mention that I'm a bit of a coffee snob. That way, when I talk about something later in the report, I think that knowing I'm very, very particular about the coffee I drink will lend some validity to my assessment of in-room coffee. I don't use caffeine, so I drink coffee strictly for the enjoyment of the flavor. . .oops, pot is telling me it's done dripping, so let me get my cuppa and I'll really, honestly work on the rest of Saturday. . . .really this time.

So our wonderful lunch is complete and we are ready to move on. We check out the bar on our way out the door as it is another fish tank. You have to actually walk up to the bar to see it, but it's worth doing. Very cool, but since there were quite a few folks sitting there and enjoying their lunch, I decided not to disturb them with pictures.

Remember dh took off for a few before lunch so he could get the lay of the land, so he took us out the door, to the right and there is the Sharks attraction. We stop to snap a pic of the girls and a random duck before entering.

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0380.jpg
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0379.jpg

This attraction is a viewing area you walk around in, then get on a moving walkway that takes you through the Shark Tunnel, as we have named it, then there's another bit of area to view walking around before you exit. Here's some pics of our trip through the attraction.

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0380.jpg
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0383.jpg
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0384.jpg
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0385.jpg
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0381.jpg
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0389.jpg
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0390.jpg
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0394.jpg
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0399.jpg
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0392.jpg
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0400.jpg
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0401-1.jpg

wwessing

05-27-2008, 09:30 AM

. . . continued

Now it's time to move on to the Believe show. We head toward that and it is a short walk since we are right in the vicinity and dh has scouted the way. We saw this on the way.

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0370.jpg
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0371.jpg

It's a flock. . .maybe a herd since they are being herded by some keepers. . . of flamingos. Flamingos get their color from. . . . . . . yep, eating shrimp. I wonder why my dd11 isn't pink?

As we enter the stadium, I remember our last trip and how much we enjoyed the killer whale show. We had all six kids with us then and split up as the 3 oldest wanted to be in the splash zone and we didn't. . . . no thanks to all that salt water. As I'm remembering that, our two youngest are begging to go sit in the splash zone. One of the few times during our vacation we tell them no way. They were ok with it (not really), so we head to the middle section - midway up and middle the other way too. We have great seats and now it's about 25 minutes before the show. Since we just had lunch, there's no need for snacks, so we settle in, kids in the row in front of us, dh and I right behind and people watch. As the show nears, and the stadium fills, which is does and nearly every seat is taken, dd9 decides she can't see as someone tall has sat down right in front of her, she moves up to our row, which leaves dd11 & 15 on their seat. Literally moments before the show starts, a young couple approaches and asks if the girls will move over so they can sit down. Ok, not a problem, except if they can't see, you will have to move to the inside of the row. Girls move over, assure me they can see the show fine and everyone is happy. Lucky couple they were. . .walk into the show 2 minutes before start and get some of the best seats in the house.

The show is wonderful. Those Orca's are beautiful and we very much enjoyed the next 30 minutes. Here's a few pics. I want to preface this with I later realized that I watched much of our vacation from behind a camera :confused3 Next time, dh can do that!

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0463.jpg
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0467.jpg
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0478.jpg
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0485.jpg
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0482.jpg
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0483.jpg
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0469.jpg
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0464.jpg
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0468.jpg
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0470.jpg

So this show ends with a story about a young man and an experience he had with an Orca and a carving he made of the Orca's tail. I get the whole show now. . . .it's a very touching story and the audience member called to be part of the show gets this wooden carving, well . . .a replica and so every child in the audience is now envious and thinks that carving is the coolest thing on earth and because they BELIEVE that, we had to purchase two of those suckers as we left the stadium and saw the wooden tail carving hawkers selling them :scared1: I BELIEVE that cost us like $5 each, so not a big deal, except I don't think they have worn those necklaces since that day.

Dh takes us right to Wild Arctic, which is next on our agenda. Again, a short walk as it is right near the back of the stadium. This is a good time to mention that SeaWorld was not particularly busy this day and the weather was absolutely beautiful. It was probably mid 80's, but there was a brisk breeze which made it perfect! We reach Wild Arctic and get in line, which really isn't all that long. I think we wait for maybe 15 minutes. Now as we approach this attraction, dh notices a sign that gives the usual warnings for simulator rides. Since he and dd15 get motion sickness, I can see him beginning to second guess his ability to enjoy the attraction. I whip out the motion sickness pills and a bottle of water and give dh a couple and dd15 one. I know it takes, in reality, like 30 minutes for the medication to be effective. I figure if even a little gets in their system while we wait in line that's better than nothing. By the time we actually got to the simulator part, it had been like 20 minutes or something and apparently either the medication had enough time to work or this simulator didn't make either of them sick because they were just fine. . . now me, on the other hand. I had to look away from the screen a couple times as I started to feel dizzy. I'm thinking, jeesh, I'm not the one who gets motion sickness, but I might have to reconsider at this point! So ride portion over, we wander through the exhibit, take a few pics and find our way out.

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0490.jpg
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0496.jpg
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0507.jpg

We wander around a bit, check out a few things and by this time, it is mid-afternoon and the kids are wanting to return to Nick for some pool time. Ok, so we wander towards the main gate, checking out whatever is on the way (oh, yeah. . this is the part where dh leads us through a theatre where a latin singer is apparently getting ready to perform and what dh thinks is a shortcut is a walk through tons of people trying to get into the theatre, with their beer cups and giant plates of nachos and pretzels and none of whom can either see what is right in front of them, or don't particularly care. So, after fighting our way through this madness, I offer dh a glare and he's like "what. . . . it was a shortcut". Choosing not to pick this battle, we press onward, which is back to a very nice stroll enjoying the scenery and soon arrive at the main gate. A very nice short walk to the van and we are on our way back to Nick hotel. Upon arrival, it's a dash to our room for swimsuits and down to the pool we go. Before long, it's time for the 4:45 sliming, so the kids are off to the sliming area about 4:30 to get their "spot" and I head back to the room to get a shower and a head start on getting ready for dinner. No recallable drama, so it must've been showers all around, and dressed for dinner without any problems. We have, YEAH, Joe's Crab Shack on the itinerary for tonight. Yes, we realize this is just a chain restaurant, but we don't have one near our home, have never been, so this is something we have been looking forward to. DH has seen many a commercial for this place and has been salivating over it for probably a year. He's is really looking forward to it. Back to the van, program our ever faithful gps and off we go. As we pull in, we realize we have arrived right smack at 7:00 and the lot is full. Doesn't matter, we are starving but we will be waiting however long it takes. Ok, so in we go, place our name on the list and to our surprise, were seated within minutes. I forgot to take any pictures here, we were too hungry and having too much fun to think about it, so I apologize. . .no food pics and it was worthy.

Our very fun waiter arrives and takes our drink order. Dh has had just enough time to decide he wants an appetizer and orders Crab Nachos ($9.49). Shortly we place our entree orders. Girls all order from the children's menu. . . dd9 has chicken fingers, dd15 has pizza ($4.99 each) and dd11 has snow crab ($6.99). I order grilled tilapia ($19.99) and dh goes for the steam pot ($21.99). He's seen advertisements for this and has been looking forward to it. He got 3 types of crab, new potatoes and some other stuff I don't remember. Nachos arrive and are delicious. I'm still wary of eating too much rich food, so only have a couple. Kids and dh dig in and it's a short time before there's nothing but cheese paper left. There is lots of singing and dancing going on and the atmosphere is loud, but fun. We had a great time and were very entertained. My girls, normally shy, were singing and dancing and goofing with the waiter. Entree's come and things settle down a little while we dig in. Everyone finishes their meal and proclaim their food to have been good. My tilapia platter was excellent, healthy and I felt good about eating everything on the plate. It was double steamed veggies, a couple small, boiled new potatoes and the fish. Very, very yummy. It took dh and dd11 a while longer than the rest of us because they had all those crab legs. Finally, everyone is done eating, satisfied and ready to get up and move around. Dh takes care of the bill ($98 with gratuity) and we wander over to the little gift shop area.

I should insert here, for those of you who don't know, or missed that part in my pre-trippie, I have a grandson. Any yes, I'm a VERY, VERY young gramma :flower3: no, really, I am. . . . and he is turning ONE while we are on vacation. We had our party before leaving though. So I'm determined to buy his a t-shirt for all our stops. I have told dh to expect this, so I find a cute shirt I want in the gift shop. I know it's not a park, but so what!!! So the girls help me decide, then go get dh and tell him THEY want to buy Bubby a shirt (his name is really Alex) so it's like I had nothing to do with it. Dh comes over and pays, no problem, but I get the look that says "you are SO not sneaky". Out we go and make a quick stop at the Walgreen's next door.

Now everyone is tired, full and ready to relax from our long day and prepare for SeaWorld day 2. Back to the hotel, pjs and bed in no time. I did a bit of bookkeeping while dh watched some tube and the next thing I know, it's time to wake up again.

Ok, part of the hold up to getting this trip report completed is how long it takes photobucket to upload my pics. It's been well over 90 minutes and it's only half way done loading the pics for this segement. We are having family over today for a cookout and I've got to go get my potato salad started. So, for fear if I leave this sitting here, I will somehow lose all the work, I'm going to post it then return later and edit in the pics.

Later. . . . SeaWorld, Day 2.

P.S. I'm not doing much proofreading, so excuse all the typos. If I proofed each post, I'd never get done. Maybe later I'll go back and fix the errors.

LeslieR

05-27-2008, 09:55 PM

popcorn:: popcorn:: popcorn::

bubba's mom

05-28-2008, 10:03 AM

Looks like a fun day at SeaWorld.....

still waiting to see pic of you & DH and your fab tans :thumbsup2

Adadmin

05-28-2008, 04:09 PM

popcorn::

RAPstar

05-29-2008, 12:38 AM

wwessing

05-29-2008, 05:32 PM

Looks like a fun day at SeaWorld.....

still waiting to see pic of you & DH and your fab tans :thumbsup2

You know. . . . we didn't get any pics of us together. I'm only in one and dh is in several. . . hhhhmmmmm, I thought I had posted something with him included. . . . he's in a couple at nick hotel, but you wouldn't know that, would you?? He's the guy in the pool waving. I think I have some others of him that I can post along the line.

We did get our picture taken at NASCAR sports grille. . . course they drag you over and take the picture. . . but it was ok so despite the fact that they couldn't put the pic on an #88 frame (Dale Jr. ya know), he bought it anyway. Maybe I can scan that 8x10 and reduce it so I can post. I'll give it a try this weekend.

LeslieR

06-03-2008, 10:29 AM

:surfweb:

wwessing

06-04-2008, 07:35 PM

I haven't forgotten, or given up. . .we have had very serious storms almost every day since last Friday! Rain, hail the size of golf balls, straight line winds, thunder, lightning and tornadoes. My computer hasn't been on more than maybe 30 minutes in a week!

We are leaving for Lake of the Ozarks Friday for a quick weekend trip and then leaving again next Thursday for a week of camping and riding our 4 wheelers and dirt bikes at a state park in Missouri, so I probably won't be able to work on this for a couple more weeks. Sorry!! There's another storm headed our way so I'll be logging off momentarily.

Now when I get back not only do I have to complete this trip report, I'll have more to do!!!! Sheesh. . . . . . . I need a secretary!

macraven

06-16-2008, 08:45 PM

12.5 days later and still waiting......
popcorn::

bubba's mom

06-16-2008, 09:21 PM

12.5 days later and still waiting......
popcorn::

Want a Snapple with that popcorn?

RAPstar

06-16-2008, 09:51 PM

Want a Snapple with that popcorn?

I love Snapple! And Clearly Canadian. I'm all about fruit flavored drinks.

macraven

06-17-2008, 12:19 PM

I love Snapple! And Clearly Canadian. I'm all about fruit flavored drinks.

:laughing:

you kill me........:rotfl:

Assisi

06-18-2008, 04:35 AM

I read a lot of trip reports (I've recently come out of lurking), but I must say this is arguably the most detailed trip report I have ever read.

wwessing

06-19-2008, 05:16 PM

12.5 days later and still waiting......
popcorn::

I know, I know!

I just got back from our camping/riding trip! Whew!! Lots of fun. . .but now I have another trippie to write.

Let me catch up with work, laundry, yadda, yadda, yadda and I will get my Orlando trippie finished. I've got to work at my senior facility on saturday, so hopefully I can get something done with the TR on Sunday

wwessing

06-19-2008, 05:22 PM

I read a lot of trip reports (I've recently come out of lurking), but I must say this is arguably the most detailed trip report I have ever read.

Dude. . . I know! It's killing me to get all the details down. But I promised I would do it and I'm going to finish this, with the details, no matter what. Granted, it's taking forever. . . but I intend to do it like I said I would.

When I was researching I constantly wished the tiny details had been included and I decided then, that I would do it. They are so much fun to read, imho.

Hopefully my little detailed stuff helps lots of other folks when trying to pull everything together. So, take notes and hang in there. . . .

wwessing

06-19-2008, 05:27 PM

Want a Snapple with that popcorn?

I love Snapple! And Clearly Canadian. I'm all about fruit flavored drinks.

:wave2:

RAPstar

06-19-2008, 06:03 PM

:wave2:

:wave2: back at ya! lovin the TR, BTW.

drinkme

06-21-2008, 09:28 AM

Great trip report!!

We stayed at the Nick Hotel years ago when it was a Holiday Inn and called the Holiday Inn Family Suites. It was in 2001, and I think we paid around $75 a night for the 2 bedroom family suite.

Anyway, I will be anxiously waiting to read the rest of your report. You see, my dh won't go to WDW any longer with me & the kids. He is so sick of the mouse. I bought some Universal tix, and I'm starting to plan a trip to Universal for Spring 2009. This will be our first Universal trip.

Can't wait to read all of the details of the rest of your trip. :)

DonnaLeah

06-21-2008, 06:46 PM

I've really enjoyed your trip report!! Take your time and do it right!!popcorn:: ...;)

macraven

06-21-2008, 06:49 PM

http://bestsmileys.com/waving/6.gif

waiting for you to return and fill us in...........

goofygirl64

06-21-2008, 09:42 PM

Hopefully my little detailed stuff helps lots of other folks when trying to pull everything together. So, take notes and hang in there. . . .[/QUOTE]

HANGIN' :surfweb:

donaldduck352

06-23-2008, 12:36 PM

popcorn:: as the op said very detailed:thumbsup2 great TR so far!!

sandshal

06-29-2008, 06:03 PM

Lovin your TR - Nick Hotel looks good but can't wait for the HR instalment - cause I'll be there again in 6 weeks time :cool1: :cool1: :cool1:

dandee

07-01-2008, 10:01 PM

So enjoying the trippie, in the middle of planning out October Girls Trip, which now includes US/IOA every year! I LOVE your details and appreciate them so much, can't WAIT until you get to HRH!!!:thumbsup2

t-and-a

07-02-2008, 12:00 AM

macraven

07-03-2008, 12:57 AM

wendy, the fans are rooting for more..........

come back and tell us about the rest of your trip!

Subi WRX

07-08-2008, 03:14 AM

Are Gold Toe socks the Dom Perignon of socks?

wwessing

07-09-2008, 10:12 AM

In my opinion they are. They hold up well and my girls usually outgrow them before wearing them out.

DH's do eventually wear out, but they last a very long time. . .not talking months, talking years, before they do.

Prior to going on our Orlando vacation this past April, I purchased some silver toe socks because I needed more socks than I nornally wear and I wasn't going to be near an outlet before leaving. I tried to save a couple dollars over purchasing gold toes in a local department store. HATED THEM!

So as a result of my cheapness, on our first day in Orlando, we had to find an outlet mall that had a gold toe store so I could replace my socks. It all worked out for the best anyway.

Go for the Gold!

wwessing

07-09-2008, 10:15 AM

Hi Wendy! :wave:
Wow! I can't believe I've been to Universal and back for several days since you started this trippie and we haven't even gotten to your Universal part of the trip yet and even started my own trippie! I can't wait much longer.....Please come back!

I know. . .I know! I'm totally a slacker. In my pitiful defense though, we have taken a couple 5 day trips since we returned from Orlando in May and that has kept me occupied. We just returned from our trip to Lake of the Ozarks yesterday.

Next up is Six Flags (St. Louis) for a couple days, but I'll work on my Orlando trippie right now!

wwessing

07-09-2008, 12:35 PM

Ok - I've just spent a couple hours completing day 2 at SeaWorld and

MY FREAKING COMPUTER LOST IT'S CONNECTION JUST AS I FINISHED UP

I HAVE NO WORDS TO EXPLAIN MY CURRENT EMOTIONS. . . WELL, I DO, BUT THEY AREN'T ALLOWED HERE

I'LL BE BACK LATER TO START ALL OVER

:mad: :mad: :mad: :sick: :mad: :mad: :mad: :sad2: :mad: :mad: :mad: :scared: :mad: :mad: :mad: :eek: :mad: :mad: :mad:

RVGal

07-09-2008, 02:16 PM

Oh, Wendy. That's awful. Unfortunately, I know exactly how you feel. After that happened to me, I started creating my trip reports in a word document that I could save and then copying and pasting them to the message board.

Come back when you aren't likely to break the computer screen. :headache:

wwessing

07-10-2008, 08:32 AM

That's a wonderful idea :idea: I've had minor problems before. . ya know, answer a few posts then something goes wrong, but over 2 hours of work and my pics were uploading at the same time, just gone. . poof. . . after I finished sitting frozen with my jaw hanging open, I left that angry post and had to walk away for the rest of the day.

I'm feeling better today, but I will create, from now on, in the fashion you described. I actually thought about that, but decided to save myself the step of copy/paste. . . . look where being lazy got me :sad2:

wwessing

07-10-2008, 02:23 PM

Much the same as yesterday, we were up early, breakfast in the room and we are loaded into the van on time! Since DH remembers the way to SeaWorld, no need for GPS today. We arrive early and there are already maybe 25 vehicles waiting at the parking lot gates. It’s not too long, however, before they open and we start rolling in. Once parked, which by the way, we did not get quite as good a spot as yesterday, but still just a little walk and will not have to use the tram, we gather our stuff and head to the gates. Seems like most people who are ahead of us are in the line to purchase tickets, so we go right to the turnstiles and get right in with our next day free tickets. . .yep, today is free.

Knowing what we are doing today, we head for the herd developing at “the rope”. I beginning to truly dislike ropes. Fortunately, there aren’t may people there and we are able to get a prime, shady spot to wait in. We found that most folks were polite and there didn’t seem to be pushing and shoving and jockeying for space. Good thing because it’s turning out to be a hot day already and it’s still before 9:00! We wait and true to our experience from the previous day, the National Anthem is played at a minute or two before 9:00 and the ropes are removed and precisely 9:00am. We move quickly toward dolphin cove as we are after feeding the dolphins again and find that we are like 2nd or 3rd in line. DH and I had discussed the issue of dolphin feeding before-hand and determined that we would buy more fish than the day before. It’s exactly 9:15 before they open the “fish window” and DH has his cash ready and orders 12 trays this time. I wanted him to get more, but he said he would feel “greedy” if he did. I figure some people get 12 -15 trays for each person, but he didn’t want to be one of “those” people and he said to imagine if we were at the end of that line and our kids didn’t get fish and had to stand and watch while someone else fed 15 trays to the dolphins. Ok, ok, fine. . whatever, point taken. . . though I still think we earned our right to as many fish as we want because we got up early, arrived early and it’s not my fault those people at the end of the line didn’t do their research properly. DH gave me “the look”, which doesn’t happen often and I knew it was a good time to let it go.

We proceed to the side of the pool with our trays of fish, set them on the side as instructed and laugh as the dolphins swarm. I’ve decided that today I’m going to enjoy the experience and let the camera hang. I take my time and soak up every single minute of the experience and dh has decided to get a dolphin to come to him even though he doesn’t have fish. He likely would have been successful . . he’s a very patient man. . . if it hadn’t been for the girls deciding they were going to do it too but they kept moving around and splashing their hands in the water, all the things you are not supposed to do. That’s when they all realize I still have fish and the dolphins are still coming up to me. Of course I gave up my last tray of fish to my kids. . . . I’m a sucker. . . and dh had a moments peace to get a dolphin to approach his hand! He was thrilled!!

So, finished with feeding, we clean up and head out. We pass the photo kiosks because we picked up so many photos the day before. We want to stay in the general area as we are going to the first Blue Horizons show of the day.

We visit the alligators

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0535-1.jpg

And the manatee rescue exhibit

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0536.jpg

Then on to Journey to Atlantis. It is walk on at this point, but we are turned back to place our stuff in lockers. Fortunately DH has a few quarters as the lockers cost .50 each. We stow our gear and back to the ride. We walk right on, take our seats. . . . and realize dd15 is balking at getting on. There are 3 people behind her and they want to board the boat, but dd15 won’t get on. We cajole (force) her to get in the boat as we know she is afraid of the unknown rather than the ride itself. She reluctantly gets on, but starts to get off when the try to place the single rider next to her. He was like, it’s fine, there’s a bunch of empty boats right behind you and I would rather be up front anyway. So, finally loaded and our boat moves off. I must say this ride is pretty cool and seemed longer than your average boat/log type ride. Know when you go on this ride YOU WILL GET WET!!! Everyone on every boat was wet.. . . dd’s 9 & 11 were soaked head to toe as they sat in the front, but we were plenty wet ourselves as were the people behind us, including dd15. Let me just say the last drops a doozy!

After the ride, dd15 admits it was cool, but doesn’t think she wants to go again. Ok, we’ll take that as it hopefully means she will trust us next time when we assure her it will be fun and not scary. . . . one can always hope, right.

We took a few minutes to check out the gift shop at the exit of Atlantis and found a beautiful sterling silver dolphin frame for dh’s mom (loves and collects dolphin stuff) and retrieve our things from the locker. We wander towards the theatre for the dolphin show and find an empty bench in the shade. DH takes a pit stop and goes to purchase a souvenir cup ($7.98 including tax and I THINK refills were like $1.68). Within 30 seconds he’s going back for a refill as the kids sucked the drink down and then the refill. He reluctantly goes back for a final refill before the show, but won’t let them have the cup. We notice that people are staring to gather at the entrance, so we que up and get a shady spot near, once again. . . . the rope! This was about 45 before showtime so we figured we had at least 15 minutes of standing at the rope, which was almost exactly right.

This is where I encountered crazy stoller lady. Let me say that there were plenty of strollers in this herd, but the crazy lady with the bashing stroller thought she was going to use her stroller as a weapon to get to the front as was apparently moderately successful. We saw them get in line about 5 minutes before they opened the stadium, so were fairly far back. They somehow managed to bash their way through the crowd behind us, and then she encountered me. After about the 5th bash in the back of the legs with her stroller, I’d had enough. DH saw what was going on, but had to hold his station since we had the kids between us, but he was giving me looks like crazy and after the final bash, he starts shaking his head no because he knows she’s pushed me way too far. So, in deference to my hubby and my kids, I think I’ll set a fairly good example and politely ask her to stop running her stroller into the back of my legs, but didn’t feel comfortable trusting myself to open my mouth and limit myself to polite requests with a smile. So, I turn around and stare, stone faced, right into her face. At first, she looked smug and gave me the “if you don’t like it then move” look, until she realized I was not going to turn back around and she would now have to bash me face to face. Then she whispered something to her apparently long-suffering husband, who took a couple steps to his left, which left her a bit of room to try to maneuver her stroller a bit left, which meant she was going to start pushing on my kids. Uuuummm, yah, I don’t think so! Dh apparently notices this as well and takes a couple little steps to his right so he’s standing next to the husband, who is by the way, holding their small, sleeping child (couldn’t put him in the stroller because she wouldn’t be able to BASH people with it then) and strikes up a conversation. I’m continuing to stare at crazy stroller lady and hoping she heeds my silent warning, but I hear dh saying something about how hot it is and how crazy people tend to get in the heat and I hear her husband say “yeah, don’t I know it”, which causes me to chuckle and dh scores a big point. One of the girls was asking him something, so he took a couple steps back to his spot to answer our daughter and it’s at this time that the ropes are removed and the crowd surges forward. We had already decided on where we wanted to sit, so with dh in the lead, we formed a human rope by holding onto the back of the person in front of us and we got great seats, in the shade. As we are getting seated, I look over and notice that crazy stroller lady and husband are still way back at the entrance trying to leave their stroller in the designated spot and I realize they are not going to get great seats because they filled, literally, within a matter of a few minutes. All seats are probably good, because the stadium is not very big, but there are truly great seats to be had with a little planning. As an aside, we saw this family a little later in the day and they were obviously arguing and their child was screaming. I felt bad for the dad and the baby. . . .but you know, what goes around comes around. She was getting slapped in the face by her own nastiness and probably ruined everyone’s day.

Anyway, the show was absolutely beautiful. The animals and actors and costumes were incredible and it has certainly changed from when we saw the show 4 years ago. It was more focused on the dolphins then, but not so much now. Here’s a few pics.

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0538.jpg
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0540.jpg
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0541.jpg
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0552.jpg
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0547.jpg
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0549.jpg
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0554.jpg
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0562.jpg
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0566.jpg
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0567.jpg

Kind of hard to get the beauty of the show through these pics, but you can take my word, it is worth the time. . . the time to wait in line, time waiting in the seats, and time watching the show. It's even worth the craziness of getting out of this stadium!

Day two to be continued. . . . .

wwessing

07-10-2008, 03:43 PM

After the show, we file out in our human chain and make a pit stop. Remember, we had gone on Journey to Atlantis right before the show and the two younger girls were still pretty wet. They were also all starving to death and couldn't walk across the park to the place we had wanted to go for lunch. We came across the Smokey Creek Grill, which while it had a line, wasn't too bad. Dh and I decided it was not worth listening to the whining to make them go where we wanted to go, so we sent them to a table to sit down and wait for us. Smokey Creek is cafeteria style and the line moved quickly. We ordered 3 chicken strip kids meals, complete with a drink and a little plastic souvenir lunch box ($7.29 each) and dh and I decided to share a meal. We got like ½ roasted chicken, some ribs and a piece of steak I think ($14.58). There were some fries and we picked up a giant pickle and some fruit as well. A refill of our cup completed the order and we take our trays and head outside. All the table are outdoors, but most of them are in the shade and quite comfortable with the breeze blowing. I go to the condiments and pick up everything we might need, including wet wipes, nice convenience and return to our tables. Lunch is divided up and before I can snap any pics, our food is half gone. . . sorry! The food was pretty good and the highlight for me was the fruit. Dh had to go back in line and get more strawberries and some watermelon. Our total for the entire meal was $53.87.

While we were eating, there were a couple of ducks that wandered through the tables begging food, but the employees chased them away. They didn’t, however, chase away the little squirrel my girls befriended.

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0587.jpg
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0585.jpg
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0588-1.jpg

The original plan was to head to the Clyde and Seamore show, then have lunch at SeaFire Inn. . . . since the girls hunger sent us off track, we quickly decided we would probably have to skip the show. Good choice because dd9 is having a terrible time. . .she’s tired, doesn’t feel good, her wet clothes are bothering her and a variety of other complaints. Dh wanted to at least see the penguin exhibit, so I agreed to take dd9 and head back to the entrance with her to wait for the others. She is in tears by this point, but dh takes the camera, I take baggallini and off we go. Dd’s 15 & 11 are with dh, so it’s just me and my baby girl.

Here's what the others did

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0589-1.jpg
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0592-1.jpg
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0594-1.jpg
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0599-1.jpg

Dd9 and I slowly stroll back towards the entrance, but take time to stop at the dolphin nursery, which was beautiful but I don’t have the camera. We stroll through a few shops and find my grandson a t-shirt, then head to the main gate area. I feel like having an iced mocha, so wander into a kiosk with candy and coffee drinks and have to persuade them they can make me an iced mocha . We compromised on they make me a mocha, and give me a large up of ice and I’ll be happy. After purchasing that and a bottle of water for my baby girl ($6.06), we find a seat in the shade to wait. Dd9 had seen a shirt she thought she would like in a shop near where we were sitting and a few minutes later, the rest of the gang shows up. Dh takes the girls into the store for a little shopping (4 shirts $92) and before long, we are ready to go. Man it’s seemed like a llloooooooonnnnng walk back to the van! Loaded up and ready to roll we return to the hotel. It’s amazing how refreshed those kids are now!! Geesh, no problem changing into swimsuits with clothes flying everywhere. Dh took the girls down today and I stayed behind to clean up and do some preliminary packing up as we move to HRH tomorrow morning. Dh comes back, says we should do a laundry so we had down to the facilities with our laundry bag. We wave at the kids who are happily splashing around in the pool, get our 4 loads of laundry started and go back on the balcony to watch them play. After the clothes were loaded into the dryers, dh decides to get his trunks on and go to the pool to play with the girls a while, while I shower and dress. I quickly take care of my chores, and go outside with the camera as it is nearing slime time. Get a couple pics of the sliming and motion for my family to come up for showers. Get the girls in the shower, dh goes to retrieve our laundry and we prepare for dinner. Now, all of a sudden, the girls are tired and fighting and generally being little pains in the buttocks, so dh and I make an executive decision to leave them watching movies while we go retrieve take out. Everyone agrees on Chick fil A (I know, I know, but we don’t have one in my neck of the woods), so off we go to grab some Chick. Ok, uuumm why the heck are they not open. . . . dope, it’s Sunday and we’ve forgotten about that. So, after a moment of pouting, we head out to find some pizza place we had seen advertised. Into some little strip mall we go only to find that the pizza place isn’t open yet!!!! Ok, now I’m getting ticked. I tell dh to pull the friggin van in a parking place until we can decide what to do. As he does, we look over and see a TGI Friday’s. Now we have this where we live, so were weren’t too excited, but figured we could get a good meal and we were already right here so dh heads inside to see if we can order take out. He comes back out with a menu, we call the girls and find out what they would like and go back inside to order and wait. We decide to just sit down and people watch, which was interesting and it didn’t take but 15-20 minutes before our food is ready! Finally!!! We had kids chicken fingers with salad, kids spaghetti with salad, kids mac n cheese with salad, 3 kids cup o dirt cake complete with gummy worms, dh and I each had some chicken plate and an order of nachos. Dinner total was $61.64 not including whatever dh tipped the young lady who handled our order so efficiently. Back to the hotel for dinner sitting on my bed watching TV. Ok, I can handle this for one night and it’s not long before the girls are getting restless. Since we’ve not had any time to explore this hotel, we decide to go check out the arcade. Off we go, locate the arcade and purchase some lanyards in preparation for our fotl room keys the next morning. I purchase a game card for each kid and decide that this arcade is kind of sucky. It’s small without a good variety of games so I go right outside the arcade entrance, get a bottle of water form the Pizza Hut and sit myself down on a cushiony bench where my kids can see me and wait for them to get bored. It’s not but a few minutes until dh joins me and not 20 minutes after that the girls have spent all their money and are bored with the arcade. Kids wanted root beer floats, but dh said “nada” because we had bought them those cups o dirt cake and thought that was plenty of sugar. Back to the room we drag them and off to bed they go. Dh settles in for the night with the remote and I do a little paperwork before dropping off while reading my novel. Oh, I think I forgot to mention parking at seaworld was $15 each day.

Next up, Monday and our move to Hard Rock Hotel at Universal Resorts!!!!

wwessing

07-10-2008, 08:37 PM

Yeah!!! A day of great anticipation for all of us, even though we have had a wonderful few days already, we’ve been looking forward to our stay at Hard Rock.

Knowing our room won’t be ready so early; we take our time, have a light breakfast in our room, pack up and call for help with our luggage. If you read my pre-trippie, you will know that we have a couple of large suitcases . . . one with drinks and one with breakfast/snack food. The suitcase with the drinks was WAY, WAY heavy. DH made certain to warn anyone who came to help about the weight of that case. He didn’t want someone grabbing it thinking it was “normal” weight for a case that size, because it was not even close. I struggled just to sit it upright! Anyway, a young man comes to our room with a cart and dh gives him the usual warning. . .apparently he didn’t believe dh when he said “careful, that bag is seriously heavy” because he snatched it up to toss it on the cart with everything else and. . .oops, it didn’t move. He looks at dh and says “dude, did you bring a library of books or what”. Dh doesn’t think it’s any of his business what’s in there so just says, I told you it was heavy, bro. He finally gets everything loaded on the cart and we ask him to meet us at the luggage stand out front. We pile in the van and drive around front so I can check out and dh can supervise the reloading of the van. We finish up about the same time, dh tips the luggage dude a very nice amount, I verify all the charges on our bill are accurate and we are ready to roll!

We decide that since it is heading towards lunch time and we don’t want to leave once we get to HRH/Universal, we will make our stop at Chick Fil A for lunch. It’s certainly open on Monday, we all order some yummy chicken and lunch totals $25. We sit down and have our meal in the restaurant and as we are waiting for dd11 to finish up, the manager comes over and asks if everything was good, refills our drink cups for the road and clears our table for us. Woo hoo, our day is good!

So back into the van, program gps for HRH and off we go. In only a few minutes, we are turning into the drive and here is what we see

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0602.jpg
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0603.jpg

We roll up to the front door and are immediately greeted, doors opened and someone is helping with the luggage. DH issues the by now standard of “that bag is seriously heavy”. Giant luggage dude picks it up and is like, what the heck is in here? Did you have to pay extra for that on the plane? Dh says we didn’t fly, we drove and they began a conversation of how far, how long, etc. etc. Giant luggage dude kept calling dh “boss”, which he thought was weird. Dh tips funny, weird, giant luggage dude and we experience our first glimpse of Hard Rock Hotel.

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0609.jpg

There was no line so we went right up to the check in desk and was promptly assisted by a wonderfully nice young lady who gave my girls plastic inflatable guitars, and assured them that when we came back from the park there would be cookies and milk waiting for them! She prepared all our room keys, added appropriate charging privileges to those we indicated and even punched holes in them so we could hook them on our lanyards. By the way, for those who know or care, we had that elusive “1” on our keys! She told us the room wasn’t ready, but that it was priority and they had just started working on it. We said that was fine, we wanted to explore the parks a bit anyway and left both our cell phone numbers to call when the room was ready.

So off we go to the parks, catch the boat since the girls wanted to ride.

Here they are waiting for our first boat ride to city walk.

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0605.jpg

We also saw this while waiting

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0606.jpg
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0604.jpg

We make our way to the Studios, get our 7 day unlimited access admission tickets activated and went to explore. We wandered around for a while, just checking things out, stopped in a shop to get dd15 a hat since she was way too cool to get a visor at Sea World, but now understands the need to keep her sunburned face protected and picked up some sunglasses for dd9 ($26.61 total). We head to the back of the park and hopped on Jaws.

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0607.jpg

By the time we got off, dh noticed he had a missed call and it was the hotel. He called back and was told our room was ready so we decide to head back, check out the room, freshen up and then whatever. We stop and pick up a couple bottles of water at the ridiculous rate of $2.75 each (we carried in our own after that) and decided to walk the path back to HRH. It only took a few minutes, as we expected, and it was a beautiful walk. We arrive at the hotel, go right to the room and find a maintenance cart blocking the door open. Our luggage has been delivered, but the maintenance mans is exiting as we walk up and he wants us to use our key to enter. Fine, I completely understand that and probably would have been very upset if he had just allowed us to walk in the room since he had no idea who we were. Key worked fine, in we go and the very nice maintenance man welcomes us and wishes us a good stay. Nice guy! So in we go and explore the room a bit.

Here’s pics of our room. Room 6099; Queen Deluxe and faces the back garden where you walk to get on the boat, or take the path. You could see the boats coming and going from our window and it was very peaceful and beautiful, especially at night.

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/IMG_2304.jpg
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/IMG_2305.jpg
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/IMG_2306.jpg
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/IMG_2307.jpg
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/IMG_2308.jpg
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/IMG_2309.jpg
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/IMG_2310.jpg

And the view

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/IMG_2302.jpg
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/IMG_2301.jpg
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/IMG_2303.jpg

So, I decide to jump in the shower real quick before we head back. Kids immediately start whining that they don’t want to wait so I tell dh to go ahead without me and he doesn’t want to. He comes to the bathroom door to talk with me about it, leans up against the door frame and right into wet paint!!! Ok, nice maintenance guy was touching up our room, which we appreciated, but why didn’t he tell us there was wet paint???? It is a question for the ages and one no one could answer. To complicate things, the shirt dh was wearing had been given to him as a gift from a very close family member and was a limited edition Dale Earnhardt, Sr. shirt AND it was the first time he had worn it! Ok, so now we have trouble. He is seriously ticked. I tell him to change shirts and after I jump in the shower, as I’m already undressed, I will call a manager and find out what the heck is going on. As promised, I called for the manager I had previously worked with, but he was not on duty so I spoke with a wonderful young lady who was the manager on duty at that time. I purposely will be leaving out certain details regarding our stay at HRH and managers names as I was asked to do that many, many months ago when another kind diser gave me information I needed to assist with making some arrangements for our special needs daughter. Anyway, the manager on duty (from now on mod) returned my call within minutes and I explained what happened. DH was not sure he was willing to send the shirt to the laundry for fear they would ruin it trying to get the paint out. We spoke with the manager, she said to touch base with her as soon as he decided what he wanted to do and expressed a great deal of remorse for what had happened. In addition, the young lady at check in had told my girls that milk and cookies would be waiting for them when we got to the room and they were not there. No big deal really, but she shouldn't have told them that and they wouldn't have been excited about it. I mentioned that to the manager while I had her on the phone and she said she was sorry about that too and would have the gift sent up directly. I also took a minute to call star services to request turn down service, some extra pillows since we would be using the hide a bed and another robe so none of the girls would be left out. They were wonderful and promised everything would be there when we got back from dinner. So, with the afternoon dampened, we decide to return to the park and get some dinner. Back out we go and the kids want to ride the boat again. Since there was one just docking, we were in luck and got to citywalk within a few minutes. By this time it’s nearing 7:00 and we find that the parks are closing. Kids are disappointed, but we assure them we have plenty of time to return. Somewhat mollified, we agree to have dinner at NASCAR Sports Grille. We explore a bit, then head in to the restaurant, after a photo next to the old #8 Dale, Jr. car.

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0610.jpg

There is literally no wait so we endure the photo then are shown to our table. That’s when I realize. . . .uh oh, I’ve forgotten our gift card for the Grille, and now I have to tell dh. I decide to wait until we order, because we are all starving and I’m afraid if I tell him before we order he will make us leave and go somewhere else. See, this is because we have so many places we want to eat and only a limited number of meals to do so and we did not plan on repeating any restaurants. We had to carefully prepare due to our daughter’s special needs and eating out is one of her BIG issues. With the parks getting ready to close, or having closed by this time, I knew we would have trouble getting dinner soon anywhere else and were so lucky to snag our table when we did. We didn’t even have to use the priority seating benefit. Now that I’ve made the decision to be manipulative and not tell dh about the missing gift card, I need to focus on helping the girls with their meal choices. We decided to meal share between the girls because they have a tendency to order too much so we get our order placed. Drinks arrive and the photo we had taken prior to being seated arrives. Here’s the deal, the photo arrives already printed and ready for you to purchase. If you want it, you just add it to your tab, if not, no big deal. Dh looks at the picture and wants to know if he can have his choice of driver as the border portion and is told, unfortunately, no, not at this time. This is all they have, but they are working on it. So, he of course doesn’t want the photo but the rest of us look at it, think it is good and we all want it. Dh finally gives in and says fine, he’ll get it. I had a salad coming with my dinner and so did dh, so those arrive about the same time as the onion rings dh ordered. Everyone digs in, I share my salad with dd9 and we forget to take pictures again. I said that was ok, we’ll get pics of the entrée’s and shortly those arrive. Well, you might guess, I get busy sharing out the dinners that I forgot to take the pics again! Geesh!! So dd 15 has this ginormous chicken salad, which is almost all she will ever order, and dd9 wants to share some of it. I ask dd15 for if she will pass me her big ole plate of salad and she refuses. I asked again, very nicely, and she still refuses. I asked her why she wouldn’t and she said she decided not to share her meal because she was hungry. I assured her there was no way she was going to eat all that and it would be fine if she shared. . .nope, I’m going to eat every single bite all by myself. It’s as I write this I wish I would have had a picture of this salad because there was no way, no matter what, that she was going to eat this thing. . . likely not even half of it. I tried to reason with her some more, but she refused to budge. Dh is getting very irritated by this point and he’s going to get up and go take the plate from her so I can share a little with dd9, but I knew if he did she would have a melt down, right there, and we would end up leaving. So I said I think it’s time we teach her a little lesson. I said fine, if you are soooo hungry that you can’t share even a little of that salad you will not get up from this table until you have eaten every leaf of lettuce, morsel of carrots and whatever else is in that bowl. She decides to be a smart alec and says “does this have to include the crackers”. I wanted to laugh, but dh was turning purple and I said no, but you will give me those (dd9 loves crackers) and she said fine and threw them at me. Now no one is happy except dd11 but we make it through dinner and actually enjoy the meal and dd9 gets plenty to eat. Well, low and behold, when everyone else is done, dd15 is still sitting here with half her salad. Dh decides to get up and explore a bit, so dd 9 & 11 get up to go with him and so does miss smarty mouth I don’t wanna share and he says, sit your a$$ down and finish that salad and off they go. She look stunned and I probably looked stunned because my kindhearted dh NEVER speaks to our kids like that. I told dd15 that I hoped she realized he was serious and she better get busy on that salad or they will be getting on the boat and she and I would still be sitting there. It took her another 30 minutes to choke down enough of that salad to satisfy dh. We went through all sorts of drama during that time, but I’ll spare you most of that. She did, at several points, pretend to gag as if she was about to lose it, and I just calmly said, please turn your head and get it on the floor rather than the table please, then you will have plenty of room to finish your dinner. So by the time she was finished, she was near tears and soooo angry with us she wouldn’t talk to us the rest of the night. Dh determines she has eaten enough and hopes that she has learned a fine lesson about sharing. I sure hope so too! So he settles the bill and out we go. So I can’t remember exactly what we had other than dh and I each had a chicken something, of course the infamous chicken salad, a kids meal, 5 drinks and the onion rings. Plus he bought the 8x10 photo and with tip, the bill was $80. Not bad! I should probably mention that I, for whatever reason, ordered a sweet tea. Now, I don’t drink tea unless it is green and/or decaf. I haven’t consumed caffeine for several years due to an extra heartbeat issue, but decided that one glass of sweet tea wouldn’t hurt, right? Shortly after dinner we left and returned to the hotel since we were getting up very early the next day to drive to Busch Gardens. It was on the boat back to the hotel that I said “oh, gosh, we forgot to use the gift card for NASCAR Grille”. Dh says, oh well, we’ll find a time to go back and use it, even if we only use it in the gift shop. I’m thinking, okay, that was too easy and I really had forgotten about it due to the salad fiasco. Once in the room, we couldn’t seem to settle down, so decided to explore for a few minutes. We went down to check out the pool, and everything on the lower floor when the kids discovered Emack and Bolio. . . uh oh. . . I’m starting to feel sick, stomach pain, heartburn, and can feel my extra heartbeat is pronounced. At this point, I say I’m going back upstairs to lay down and dh is on his own regarding the ice cream. I head up, take some medication, lay down and it’s not long before they are coming in the door and I’m feeling a little better. I can still feel the pronounced extra beat but know I will for a while yet. They had gotten rootbeer floats, sundaes and bless their thoughtful little hearts, had brought me something too ($24.44). I had downed 2 bottles of water when I got to the room to help with the caffeine in my system issue, so was really, really full but knew I had to be excited and eat the stuff, so I did. . .well, most of it and was sure I was going to be sick. I managed to maintain, but had a miserable night. It’s about this point when we realize that there is still no milk and cookies. No one really cares because we all might be sick at the sight of more food, so everyone settled down for the night. We also realized that no extra pillows or robe had been brought up. We made do for the night. I placed 2 wake up call requests and got through about 3 paragraphs of my novel before I fell out. . . . for a minute. Suffice it to say that I had a dreadful night. . . no more tea no matter how tempting. . . dang I’m stupid!!

Coming soon, Our BEAUTIFUL day at Busch Gardens.

RAPstar

07-10-2008, 11:47 PM

Yay! An update! lol I'm loving you TR. Sorry to hear about the fiasco with your daughter......though I'm sure I did something similar when I was her age or younger. :rolleyes: I hope you got to feeling better after the caffeine issue. The HRH looks wonderful. I'll definitely have to stay there eventually. Anywho, can't wait to read more!!!

wwessing

07-11-2008, 10:28 AM

Gotta take the good with the bad, right?

I've completed the next day, Busch Gardens. I just have to get it posted and the photos uploaded. Hopefully I'll be able to get that done yet today.

Thanks for reading!! and hanging in there!!!

LeslieR

07-11-2008, 03:42 PM

macraven

07-11-2008, 04:07 PM

i'm guessing i was that kind diser...

ok, what do i win since i guessed right........:rolleyes1

wwessing

07-11-2008, 05:08 PM

i'm guessing i was that kind diser...

ok, what do i win since i guessed right........:rolleyes1

Ding Ding Ding! We've got a winner. . . . . here's your prize :hug:

wwessing

07-11-2008, 05:16 PM

I'm enjoying your report...

The stroller lady--:scared1: Glad to hear you stood your ground. I really hate to encounter rude people on vacation (or anywhere, for that matter).

Looking forward to more info about HRH. We'll be there in a few weeks---wonder if we'll get the welcome gift?!?

Hope all your computer issues have cleared up!

I'll be glad to answer any questions I can regarding HRH, or share an experience or opinion with you. . . feel free to ask.

There is no reason not to get your welcome gift. They call it a perk for being a Loews member and if you don't get it, you should call star services and let them know. One thing I can say from experience now, is if you have a problem, you need to let someone know and they will do their very best to see that you are satisfied. I think alot of the complaints I have read about are a result of folks just not speaking up, then complaining later. They can't fix something they don't know is broken. . .so if you have any issues while you are there, please be certain to bring it to someone's attention.

This reminds me that I did not include tipping information in my first day's HRH report and I had intended to do that. There seems to be alot of discussion regarding tipping, so I'll be sure to discuss it in my next installment.

Thanks for reading!

sandshal

07-11-2008, 05:27 PM

Thanx for the next instalment! 4 Weeks today and we'll be heading off across "The Pond" to the States - last 2 days at HRH. We had some real issues with HRH last year during HHN, the noise was unbelievable and we had a few issues we hadn't expected, to be fair they comp'd us our last night and have given us a really great rate for club this year ...... :thumbsup2 to the Lady MOD who arranged our latest rate ... the HRH staff have been really helpful so far this time!

Looking forward to the next bit ......

macraven

07-11-2008, 05:33 PM

you mean people actually go to universal when they have the annual hard ticket event of HHN, stay on site and don't plan to attend HHN...............

puzzling......:confused3

:laughing:

melissac

07-11-2008, 11:10 PM

This is the best review I have read(so far). Thanks for the wonderful pictures and info. Just wondering what ahppened with your husband shirt?

sandshal

07-12-2008, 07:32 AM

you mean people actually go to universal when they have the annual hard ticket event of HHN, stay on site and don't plan to attend HHN...............

puzzling......:confused3

:laughing:

Two young boys so HHN out of the question, picked an Oct trip for my husbands 40th, love IOA and US but would definately not stay onsite during HHN again! having said that ..... I think we simply encountered a group of inconsiderate guests.

HRH staff told us this particular night they'd received a record number of noise complaints. HRH handled the situation really well, which is why we're returning there in 4 weeks time.

Havn't got an excuse for our next trip .............. guess we just love FL!

wwessing

07-12-2008, 08:00 AM

This is the best review I have read(so far). Thanks for the wonderful pictures and info. Just wondering what ahppened with your husband shirt?

the saga continues. . . . .

wwessing

07-22-2008, 07:52 PM

I've got the next day written, now all I have to do is paste it over here and add the 80 pics I've got for Busch Gardens day!

coming very soon to a computer screen near you :goodvibes

Sharon G

07-23-2008, 10:08 AM

:wave: Hi Wendy, can't wait to read the rest!

wwessing

07-26-2008, 08:49 AM

Let me preface this post by saying that this day will be broken down into at least 3 posts because we have so many pictures they won't all fit into one, or even two posts. I know this because I spent several hours last weekend preparing the narrative, adding the pictures only to get the error message that there were too many pics to post, so I broke it down into two, same message so I broke it into smaller chunks and lost the whole thing. Due to post-tramautic trippie syndrome, I've taken a week off, gotten some therapy and think I'm ready to get this done. With enough of my whining. . .here we go. . . .

So it’s up early, breakfast in the room and everyone is cooperating with getting ready. I take a few minutes and make an early call to the m.o.d. regarding the shirt dh has decided that they should be responsible for removing the paint. Fortune is with me and it’s the same manager as I had spoken with the day before. We discussed the shirt and almost before hanging up the phone, there was a knock on the door and it was someone wanting dh’s shirt. I mentioned that the milk and cookies had never shown up the day before and neither did the pillows or robe we requested. Now this manager was not happy. She couldn’t apologize enough and gave me her personal promise that we would have everything we should have the day before and asked what our plans were for the day. I told her what we were doing and she guaranteed everything would be good when we returned. . .she even wanted to know what time we would like turn down service. It was going to be a great day!

So, business taken care of, I make sure we have our necessary tickets and off we go. GPS took us right to where we wanted to be and in just under 90 minutes. We had actually gotten their earlier than planned because the hours changed since we left home and BG was not opening until 9:30. . .great, I gotta pee! There are only 4 other cares when we arrive and the lines quickly filled up. Finally, the parking gates open and we get a great parking spot again. Parking was $15 for preferred, and we find out later that we should not have been charged for preferred that early. Oh well, $5 is not worth an issue at the point when we left, so we let it go. Anyway, we park and hike as fast as possible to the gates and I’m just hoping and praying there will be a bathroom I can get to without waiting in another line. Lady luck is with us and sweet relief, there is a restroom and no waiting inside! Ok, so whew, that business taken care of, we go through the turnstyles around 9:15, but have to wait in another area until 9:30. At least they have some entertainment and we enjoyed some bugles and other horns while we waited.

Finally, 9:30 and we head directly to Rhino Rally as I had read that if you’re going to ride it, do it early because it has a tendency to break down later. So we speed back to that area and discover, can you guess. . . yep, another STUPID ROPE! This area of the park doesn’t open until 10:00. What the. . . . . so we decide to wait and dh gets us some fruit from a nearby stand and I had skipped breakfast and a couple drinks while we wait. There were some exhibits we had sped past, so decide to backtrack a bit and take a look at those.

Here’s what we saw

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0619.jpg
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0622.jpg
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0623.jpg
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0624.jpg
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0625.jpg
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0615.jpg

Finally, that stupid rope is removed and we had gathered some valuable park information by sitting and listening while we waited. It’s not far to Rhino Rally and we are excited as we’ve been looking forward to this ride for many months. We rush up the walkway to see only a few people in line and make it to the turnstile . . . but wait . . . what is that sign?? The water portion of Rhino Rally is not in operation???? WHAT THE. . . . . I start thinking about explaining to the innocent employee standing at that entrance about how far we’ve come and how excited we were and try to make her understand that it HAS to be working when common sense overtakes me and under my disappointment I realize there is absolutely nothing she can do except stand there smiling, nodding and apologizing (and thinking look crazy, stupid lady, I didn’t purposely break the darn thing so your family would be disappointed) So, I suck it up like the adult I am, very nicely ask if she has any idea what the problem is or if it might be back up and running today and she responded she really had no idea. Well, ok, thanks anyway and we decide to go ahead and get in line. We are on the next “truck” and dd11 is chose to sit up front with the driver, which is part of the whole “thing”. I wouldn’t ride it again without the water portion. There was really nothing to it, but my kids seemed to enjoy it for all of the 5 minutes it took to go in this seemingly little circle where we saw virtually nothing. . . but what the heck, dd11 had a great time with the driver, the other girls giggled the whole time (ok, the driver was a hottie in a very hot way) and it wasn’t so bad. We can say we rode Rhino Rally. As an aside, dh and I have talked about our next Orlando vacation and had kind of decided that we wanted to allot our time differently and while I said I could give Busch Gardens a miss the next time, he want to include it so we can ride Rhino Rally with the water portion. I’m like, look, there’s no guarantee that it will be working next time we go. . . so we will see where this goes. Back to the current vacation. . . . . we exit Rhino Rally and head for the train. We love to ride trains and this is a good way to see some of the park we probably wouldn’t otherwise see. As we sit, we realize that the next train isn’t due for like 30 minutes. DH and I look at each other and are like, dang, or timing is way off today so we go back toward Rhino Rally where there is a Dippin Dots stand that the kids had seen a few minutes before and wanted. We took a couple pics in the Rhino Rally wrecked “truck” display and got the girls their Dippin Dots and some water ($20.31).

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0675.jpg
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0629.jpg

By the time they finished their treat, it was time to go back to the train station. We head back over and get in line. In a few minutes, the train rolls up and it’s still early enough that things aren’t crowded yet, so we were able to spread out in two seats instead of all 5 of us squeezing into one.

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0631.jpg
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0634.jpg
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0633.jpg
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0627.jpg
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0648.jpg
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0646.jpg
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0645.jpg
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0642.jpg
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0641.jpg
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0637.jpg
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0652.jpg

It was a very nice ride and we went once full around the park, then got off to have an early lunch at Crown Colony. We knew we wanted to eat on the veranda, and since breakfast had been so early for the girls, we figured an early lunch around 11:00ish would be just the thing today. We wander to the restaurant, make our way up the stairs and place our name on the list. There was already someone ahead of us, and several people came in right behind us. The list lady was not very friendly and behaved as though she were in some famous, world renowned restaurant. . . . we could tell by the height at which she had her nose stuck in the air. Dh says, gosh, I hope it doesn’t rain and the girls were like why, we are inside and dh says, it’s a good thing because otherwise that lady would drown. They thought that was hilarious and because they were giggling, that stuck up waiting list lady seated the people that came in behind us first. That only made us laugh more and she knew she had to seat us next or risk us asking what was going on, so I allowed my kids to continue giggling all the way to our table. I hope snobby waiting list lady reads this and realizes how ridiculous and out of place her attitude and aires were! So, we settle the kids down once we are seated, place our drink order and work on figuring out what’s for lunch. Miss mouthy from the night before speaks right up and says “I want to order off the kids menu” . Dh and I look at each other and can’t help but laugh! So what she learned from the night before was not that sharing is a good thing but that she would start ordering what she knew would be smaller portions!! Kids!!! Will we ever figure them out? So when the waiter comes back with drinks, I ask if she may order from the kids menu and he says the only way we could do that is if she is ordering something not available on the adult menu, then he could get by with it. Ok, so now we have some direction. . . but dd15 wants chicken fingers, which is available as a regular entrée. So we try to explain this to her, but she’s not getting it. Finally, she finds something she wants and figures she can eat all of so we order a kids meal spaghetti for dd9; dd11 wants soup and salad; dd15 gets a grilled chicken breast fillet; dh orders salmon and I get the mahi special. Salads came, which were shared with dd9 and then the entrees came. The food was very good and our original bill was only about $73. We used our AAA discount and with tip, the total was $80. I give Crown Colony my recommendation and remind everyone to whip out that AAA card where ever you go! Sorry, no food pics. This was one of those meals where I was distracted and hungry and didn't take any pics before we dug in. My kids had this wonderful habit of reminding me, with their mouths stuffed full, that I didn't take any pictures yet and did I want to.

Next up. . . .after lunch

wwessing

07-26-2008, 08:56 AM

So with lunch over with, we start hitting the exhibits for a couple hours and took these.

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0649.jpg
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0650.jpg
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0652.jpg
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0653.jpg
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0654.jpg
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0655.jpg
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0656.jpg
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0663.jpg
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0662.jpg
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0661.jpg
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0660.jpg
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0659.jpg
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0658.jpg
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0657.jpg
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0664.jpg
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0665.jpg
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0666.jpg
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0667.jpg
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0668.jpg
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0669.jpg

Next up. . . Jungala

wwessing

07-26-2008, 01:34 PM

We want to visit Jungala, so head off that way.

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0682.jpg
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0681.jpg
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0679.jpg
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0677.jpg
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0683.jpg
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0687.jpg
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0686.jpg
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0691.jpg
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0693.jpg
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0694.jpg
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0695.jpg

After exploring a bit and doing some shopping, dd9 declares she is exhausted and wants to leave. Dd11 has seen the zip line and wants to ride,

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0701.jpg
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0702.jpg

so I take dd 9 & 15 and the bags with me to go sit in the shade for a bit. We find a cs restaurant, grab some lemonade, juice and some strawberries with a mound of whipped cream along with some grapes ($15.25). We grab a table and relax with our cold drinks and snacks. After a while, dh calls to find out where we are and says they are headed over. Dd15 & 9 want to go back to the counter to get their dad and sister drinks and a snack, so I hand over some money and they come back with just what we had (another $15.25). Dh is happy to have a cold drink and snack so sits for a few while they enjoy their strawberries. We are sitting next to this big, wooden, jungle gym type thing. It is huge and there are lots of kids playing on it, so dd9 & 11 decide they want to go play. Dh goes with them and they run though this thing for maybe 30 minutes before they decide to go see a couple of habitats they had noticed. Off they go again, but dd15 has had enough and doesn’t want to go, so I stay with her in the shade. They aren’t gone long and return excited about what they had seen.

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0705.jpg
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0704.jpg
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0703.jpg
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0706.jpg

It’s getting to be late afternoon and we’ve had a long day, so we decide to head back towards the front gates. As we begin walking, the kids notice the sky ride and want to go on it. Since I know it takes us to the front of the park, I readily agree. Once in line, the girls decide they want to ride in a car by themselves. Dh and I read the rules and determine they are old enough and with a warning to sit still while riding, allow them to get in their own car. Dh and I hop on in the next car, carrying all the packages and soak up the few minutes it takes to complete the ride back. The view was absolutely beautiful and we took a few shots of the park from up there. The ride was relaxing and the breeze cooling.

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0707.jpg
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0708.jpg
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0709.jpg
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0710.jpg
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0711.jpg
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0712.jpg

wwessing

08-07-2008, 08:21 AM

Coming soon. . . more days at Universal, the day from H$#! at Aquatica, our meal at Margaritaville . . .with food pics. . . .and our wonderful evening at Emerils! Stay tuned. . .

macraven

08-07-2008, 12:46 PM

how soon.......................

wwessing

08-07-2008, 06:08 PM

how soon.......................

:rolleyes1 soon in my world

pixeegrl

08-07-2008, 07:18 PM

Don't leave us in suspense again! As a PP stated this is the best trip report!!!

LITTLEKID58

08-08-2008, 08:26 AM

subscribing... TFS

wwessing

11-22-2008, 11:01 AM

Geez. . . . I'm such a loser!! :sad2:

wwessing

01-02-2009, 12:11 PM

Still tired, but glad for the relaxing few minutes, our sky ride comes to an end and we watch the girls get off and wait for us. We wind our way out (yes, you have to wind your way through the exit. . my thought at the time was “this is a very long and winding wheel chair ramp”) and head to the font gates. On the way, dd11 (btw, it’s taken me soooo long to write this report that dd11 is now dd12, so I’ll refer to her that way from now on. . . and yes, dd15 is now dd16) and dh spot a sign for something we missed. I’m tired and my feet hurt, and I’m kind of glad when dd’s 9 & 16 start whining that they are tired. So, being the martyr that I am, I agree to miss out on whatever they are going to visit and take the girls to find a seat and some shade. We find a spot near the gates, sitting on a bench under a tree (can you believe our luck) and relax. There was obviously a youth group from a local church that had visited today. They were apparently supposed to be meeting their chaperones near the gates so they could return to their bus. We watched as some groups appeared promptly and all together, and others that seemed to have stragglers. Why is it that the straggler groups are the ones with all the rowdy kids who apparently have not figured out that there are other people in the park?? Yes, I would agree that the busy front gate area is a perfectly appropriate place to play throw the balls as hard as you can at your friends face to try to impress the girls standing around trying to appear as if they aren’t watching the boys throwing the balls. Certainly an excellent game, until you hit the elderly man sitting under the shade tree, and yes, nearly hitting the fat and tired lady with her two kids waiting on the rest of her family to appear. Oh, gosh, is that your ball under our bench?? You’d like us to throw it to you??? Only if you stand perfectly still 6 inches from my throwing arm and allow me to plow it into your face. . . . . . ok, ok, I gave them their ball back and even smiled and quipped something funny as all the girls started giggling. I’m soooo sorry it’s time for you to go and your last straggler just showed up. Now that those teens are gone, it is very relaxing and I notice there’s a shop just across the way. I’ve not finished my shopping (especially since dh is not anywhere in sight) so I ask the girls if they want to go and warn them to stay put while I go check out the shop. I find a few little items I want to bring home to my dd20 and get in line for check out. There’s only one person in front of me, so it’s no time at all and a very nice young lady rings up my items and happy day, it only totals $35!! Geez, whip out my bag. . . wait, where’s my bag. . . . well S&*$, dh took baggallini with him because it had water, AND he took the camera bag as well, which had some cash in it too!!!! Ok, so the still very nice young lady offers to keep the bag ready at the register so when dh, who has EVERY STINKING PENNY WE BROUGHT WITH US gets back, he can come in and pay for my stuff. Back out I go, where my girls are sitting quietly and it’s not long before dh and dd12 return. They’ve gone to the aviary and have some great pics

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0715-1.jpg
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0716-1.jpg
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0717-1.jpg
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0719-1.jpg
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0721-1.jpg
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0722-1.jpg
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0725-1.jpg
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0727-1.jpg
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0729-1.jpg
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0730-1.jpg
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0731-1.jpg

Dh goes in, after scowling because I’ve been shopping again, and pays for my little bag of stuff. I’m thinking we did great today, because after all, we are at Busch Gardens where we could have spent hundreds and hundreds of dollars shopping for white tiger stuff, right?? According to my count, we’ve gotten out of there for less than $200 worth of shopping and I happen to think that is excellent. I figured going in that we would spend a lot more than that because 2 of our girls LOVE, love and love white tigers. Dh better start counting his blessings and stop being grumpy!

So bags in hand(s), we leave the park and head back to our car. We catch this tram, which we probably didn’t need to catch, but with all the bags and tired kids, we thought it would be a good idea to take one last ride. When the tram didn’t stop at the front lot we were in, dh went and asked if they would. Of course, they would be happy to assist us, and they stopped on the way back. We were within 25 yards of the van and happy for that.

Now it’s time to think about supper. We had planned on Chick-fil-A, but none of us really wanted that. We wanted to be a bit careful where we went because lunch had been our “expensive” meal of the day. Really, since we only spent about $80, dh figured we could get something a little better than fast food, so he decided to go back to Orlando and find something there. With cold drinks from our cooler, the kids relaxed on the way back and we end up at Lone Star. We were seated right away, and I don’t have food pics or details of the meal. I know I had a small fillet, dh had a steak and I think all the girls had the children’s menu steak. I think we might have had an appetizer of some sort, but the final bill was $67, with a 20% tip, so I’m thinking maybe we didn’t have one. I know it was good, and we all ate everything and dh didn’t mind signing the check, so it was a very good meal.

Now we are relaxed, tired and full and ready to go back to the room. Dh takes us back to HRH. We get to the room and turn down service has been provided, there are a few little trinkets for the girls and sitting ont the table is a tray with some giant cookies and some milk. The girls, though full from supper, go to work on the cookies and milk. We get showers taken care of, clothes out for the next day, everyone settled down and before long, all I hear is snoring. The kids were very happy with turn down trinkets and the snack that was waiting for them. Dh and I were also satisfied and glad that they had come through that day. We are thinking HRH is taking care of us and are super happy our kids were not disappointed again.

I take care of a little bookkeeping, gathering receipts, take a few notes and chat with dh for a few, all while enjoying a cup of Emeril’s decaf coffee. We check our charges on the tv channel designated for that, and discover that we have been charged for the shirt star services took to get the paint out of. I told dh I would take care of it in the morning, then it's lights out for me while dh watches a little tv.

Next up. . . tomorrow is another Studios day with lunch at Finnegan’s and dinner at Margaritaville!

macraven

01-02-2009, 01:11 PM

i'm still here.......

wwessing

01-02-2009, 03:02 PM

I'm adding the pictures now. . . it takes forever for my photos to load to photobucket.

I'm also going to post the next day, without pics, then add them once they load.

:cool1:

wwessing

01-02-2009, 03:16 PM

i'm still here.......

Hey Mac! I'm glad you are hanging in there. I'll finish this dang report yet! I've still got all kinds of good stuff to come. I'm afraid I've lost some of the details, but I'm trying awfully hard to include all the minutia that I looked for when researching for our trip.

Hope the rest of you are still out there. . . . . :rolleyes1

wwessing

01-02-2009, 03:22 PM

Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Universal Studios

Today I wake early so I can shower and get ready before the crew gets up. Once my shower is done, I make a cup of that yummy decaf coffee I’m enjoying so much. As I get ready, the girls and dh are waking up. When I am ready for the day, I restock baggallini and replenish our funds and another cup of coffee. I like keeping housekeeping on their toes!

As the others are getting up, there is a knock on the door and it is dh’s shirt being returned from cleaning. As we take it out of the bag, we notice that the paint is still there, so I call our manager, who is thankfully on duty again this morning, and explain that the paint didn’t come out and that we had been charged for the cleaning. Needless to say, she was not a happy camper and said she was coming right up. Within minutes, she was at the door and we invited her in to discuss the shirt. Fortunately for us, her fiancé was a NASCAR fan so understood that the shirt we were discussing was not only a gift from a close family member, it was not something you could go out and replace. The shirt was a Dale Earnhardt, Sr., limited edition, printed by Chase Authentics. It was not irreplaceable. So, after apologizing another 50 times, she took the shirt with her and promised to do what she could with it as well as have that “ridiculous charge” removed from our account. Realizing that she was doing everything within her power, we were satisfied that there truly was nothing more to be done. It was all in her hands and we were going to enjoy our day.

So, off we went to Studios. The kids were hungry and tired of eating the things we had brought along, so we agreed to grab something light at the park. We had noticed the bakery, Boulangerie, at the front of the park on Monday, so we headed there. Once inside, we realized that everything was HUGE and too much for one, so we ordered several items to share. We got a chocolate chip cookie ($1.99), cheese Danish ($1.99), croissant ($2.49) and banana muffin. We had brought bottles of water, so no drinks were necessary. We went outside to sit and people watch while we ate. Sorry, forgot food pics again. Actually, there was a bit left over after we ate our fill so the girls crumbled it up and dropped it for the birds. I know, I know. . . it encourages the birds to be a nuisance, but where we are from, we always feed our birds.

With breakfast out of the way, we go to visit the Lucy tribute and dd16 has decided that she maybe does need a hat or something after all, so we stop in a shop for her to pick out a visor. We stop and make reservations for Finnegan’s for 2:00 and wander our way through the park. I can’t remember what we rode, but I know Jaws, Twister, MIB and several others were completed before lunch. Our room keys were magical, once again, and the most we waited for anything was less than 10 minutes. Keeping in mind that dh has motion sickness, and dd16 gets “boat sick”, as she puts it, I had them taking medication. Well, actually, dh and dd16 took it while I stopped for a restroom break, and I found out later he took like twice what he was supposed to, but fortunately gave dd16 the correct dosage. So now, he tired and drowsy and it’s interfering with his ability to enjoy the day, but I don’t know, at this point, what is wrong with him. So we are getting close to time for our lunch and are near Finnegan’s, so we hang out in the area and dh purchases a souvenier cup ($6.99) and we watch the Blue’s Brother’s show. Dh decides to go inside, even though we are like 20 minutes early, and they have our table ready. Excellent, except I was enjoying the show.

Here's some random pics taken during the morning. . . .

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0732.jpg

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0733.jpg

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0734.jpg

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0735.jpg

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0736.jpg

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0737.jpg

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0739.jpg

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0740.jpg

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0741.jpg

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0742.jpg

Seated at our table, we were given our menus and I have read so much about this place during my vacation planning that I don’t know what to have. We have never had scotch eggs, and I read great reviews, so I know we have to try that. We order our drinks ($2.25 for each soft drink) and are brought bread and butter, which was excellent enough that they had to bring more. I also ordered Scotch Eggs ($5.95) and Leak Soup ($3.95) that we were going to share. Both were excellent and we all enjoyed them. I apologize, again, but in our hunger, we neglected to take pics of the eggs and soup. I did gets some pics, but once we started eating the eggs and soup, I decided not to take pics. I think I said before that if we had taken bites out of a dish, I wasn’t going to take pictures cuz I think that’s gross! The scotch eggs were hard boiled with sausage wrapped around them and deep fried. The leek soup was, well, leek soup.

Because we knew we were going to Margaritaville that evening, we decided to share entrees. We ordered fish and chips with wedge fries I$12.95); a Mixed Grill ($11.95) and a burger and fries ($5.99 and included one child’s soft drink) from the children’s menu. It was way more than enough for all of us to share and we even had some left over. I did manage to get some pics of this food, along with the Irish Soda bread, so here’s your Finnegan’s food porn. . .

Here's the soda bread that was yummy and we asked for more.
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0743.jpg

Burger from the children's menu
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0744.jpg

Mixed Grill. . . . yum yum
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0745.jpg

and the much discussed fish and chips, which was very good
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0746.jpg

The total, minus AAA discount (yes, we whipped that baby out everywhere and got discounts every time we did) was $47.73, then dh added about 17% tip (service was good, but not stellar) for a total of $56.00. Let me take a moment to digress and explain what I mean by this. When we walk in a restaurant, our server’s tip starts at 15% and can go up or down from there. If the service is good to excellent, the tip can go to 25%, though this is rare. If the service is less than average, the tip may go down as low as 10%. Average service, obviously, deserves an average tip of 15%. So, for a 17% tip the service was above average, just not what we consider excellent. A couple of times our server forgot to bring items we requested and it seemed to take a while for him to get to drink refills. The service was still very good and the food came within a reasonable time. When it arrived, it was hot, properly prepared and very, very good. So Finnegan’s gets a much deserved thumbs up from us and a high recommendation. We will eat there again at our next visit, and that’s saying something since there are sooooo many food choices and soooo many places we didn’t get to.

So, after lunch, we are full and relaxed and a little tired and not wanting to ride much of anything for fear of shaking up lunch. We decided to take it easy and just walk around and check things out. We did some shopping and wandering and decided to leave around 4:00 to return to HRH for a bit of pool time before returning to City Walk for supper at Margaritaville. We stopped for a soda refill ($.74 including tax and btw, dh didn’t ask for aaa discount when he purchased the cup or the refills. . . he forgot). We bought some t-shirts and sunglasses and stopped in a candy store near the gates for the kids. We only spent around $100 shopping today – YEAH!!!

Some more pics while we wandered around in the afternoon. . .

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0748.jpg

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0749.jpg

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0751.jpg

We boated back to HRH. . . . ok, I have to digress again. While the walk is certainly very short between HRH and city walk, the boat ride is so nice. It is relaxing and we never had much of a wait. Sometimes on the return we might have waited 15 minutes or so, but I enjoyed those boat rides almost as much as everything else. Sometimes dh and some of the kids would walk there, or back, but I loved the boat and rode it almost every time.

Back at HRH, we went to the room after checking out the hotel and making sure we weren’t missing anything and the kids changed and went to the pool with dh for a while. I stayed in the room and showered, again, and got ready for an evening at City Walk. I had messages from the managers, so I returned those calls. The kids were wound up, but tired, when they came back up, and it took a while to get them changed and ready. While we were doing that, the manager that had taken dh’s shirt came to the room and brought it back. We could still tell a little, but it was ok, really. I think she sat in her office and scraped off the paint by hand. She said she asked everyone downstairs if they could see it, and no one was able to find the spot. We were as happy as could be with the results and thanked her for all her help.

Now, off to City Walk and Margaritaville. . . . . .

wwessing

01-02-2009, 09:11 PM

Studios Day Part 2

Margaritaville!

Everyone is finally ready and we are all hungry. Out we go, to the boat, which we did not wait long for. It was dark by this time, so the boat ride is extra special and City Walk is way cool. It’s a beautiful and exciting place to be at night. Something I haven’t mentioned to this point is that my girls are all sunburned. I’m mentioning that now because you will likely notice it in the pictures to be included in this segment. . . and because tomorrow is Aquatica. . . yikes!!!

So we arrive at City Walk and head to Margaritaville. Dh goes to find out how long of a wait to expect and I head to get a pre-dinner drink. By the time we looked around in the shop and I was in line for a drink, our table was ready so I hopped out of line deciding to just order my drink from the table. Once we were seated it was only a moment before our server arrived to take our drink order. The girls all wanted shakes and dh and I ordered a margarita, of course, in a souvenir glass. Dh had listened to me talk about volcano nachos for months on end, so naturally, he had to order some.

Here's our drinks

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0752.jpg

While we waited for our nachos, the girls enjoyed their shakes and watched everything going on. They were fascinated with the stilt walkers and their interactions with the customers, especially big, loud groups. It wasn’t long before our appetizer arrived, and wow. . . wow.

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0755.jpg

This picture does not do this dish justice. It is just something you have to see for yourself. Not only do they heap all this stuff on a giant platter, they are GOOD! So we dig in. Now dd9 is a picky eater and doesn’t like to try anything new. I had to pick out some “empty” chips for her, so she was happy with those on her plate. I’ve been thinking about a Cheeseburger in Paradise for months, and I’m not going to fill up on nachos, but trust me, I ate enough so I felt like I had really tried everything on the nachos, but not so many so that I was feeling at all full. I haven’t had a cheeseburger in months. . . seriously, months. I have been taking the weight loss drug Alli, for those who don’t know that, since January 1 and cheeseburgers don’t work with Alli. Anyway, between the milkshakes and the nachos, I send out a warning to my girls to leave room for their entrée. . . or else. Between the four of us, we don’t put a dent in those nachos. It’s not long before I notice dh has just pulled the plate of nachos in front of him. I’m looking at him like, dude, you have a entrée to eat yet and you are working over those nachos. He said they were the best nachos he had ever eaten. By the time we left, he had eaten the whole thing. . .yes, I’m very serious. Besides what we ate, which was maybe 1/5th of the whole thing, dh polished off the entire plate. Ok, so there maybe was a random broken chip, some hardened cheddar and perhaps a jalapeno ring or two, but besides that, G O N E!!!! He didn’t eat them all before his entrée, but before we left he managed to finish them. Yes, he ate his dinner and yes, he was so full he was miserable and sick and grumpy. We were there for a long time. I think it took a couple hours from being seated to walking out the door. So here are our entrees.

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0757.jpg

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0758.jpg

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0760.jpg

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0761.jpg

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0759.jpg

I have apparently misplaced the detailed receipt from that meal, so I can’t list how much each item cost, but I know the total, with 20% tip was $106. That was an appetizer, 5 entrees, 3 milkshakes, a margarita with souvenir glass and a soft drink, plus tip. I think the bill was about $85 before tip though. Not bad at all!

Before the food came, I mentioned to our waitress that my girls would really enjoy a balloon souvenir from the stilt walkers. She said she would see what she could do. It wasn’t 5 minutes later, one of them came over and started talking to the girls. They are shy (what the heck!) and he sat down on the back of the booth right behind where I was sitting. So, while he’s talking, he’s making balloon things, and he asks where we are from. His fiancé is from a town not too far from us and he was talking about driving there for a family event and sympathizing with our drive. While he was there, our entrée’s arrived and everyone, but me, dug in. I was talking and talking and talking and thought it was kind of rude to eat while he was sitting there. I know he sat there for at least 20 minutes, which was ok, but I really wanted to eat my cheeseburger. Finally, I take a bite and that was all she wrote. I wasn’t talking to anyone until that baby was gone. He sat for another minute or two and dh took over talking (since he was full from the nachos anyway and had managed to choke down most of his entrée anyway) before he walked away. After he had made each of the girls something, I tried to tip him, but he said they couldn’t accept, but I don’t remember why, though he did explain. I would have gladly handed over that $10 bill for the entertainment he provided for my girls. They were so happy.

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0762.jpg

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0768.jpg

I think it was our favorite night of our entire vacation. We did eat better food (tomorrow night is Emeril’s, though we had no idea we were going to do it until the next day), but the food was good, the atmosphere was excellent and the margarita was top notch (and gave me a buzz)!

So now that we can’t get out of the booth because of all we have eaten and drank, we call a big fat tow truck to haul us out and decide we need to walk around a little bit. We go outside and get some random pics. We wanted to do a little shopping, but were too full for anything serious, so we just looked around and got an idea of some things we wanted to pick up before the end of our vacation.

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0769.jpg

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0764.jpg

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0771.jpg

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0772.jpg

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0773.jpg

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0774.jpg

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0776.jpg

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0777.jpg

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0778.jpg

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0779.jpg

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0780.jpg

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0783.jpg

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0784.jpg

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0787.jpg

You can see by that last pic that everyone is ready for bed. The boat ride was super nice and we wandered around HRH for a moment before we went up to hit the sack. Star services had been there so our beds were turned down, the room was nice and clean and there were some little trinkets for the girls. Fresh towels had been left and extra decaf (yes!). It was semi dark when we went in, so it took a couple minutes to realize there was something on the table. When we turned on the lights, there was a treat left because of all the trouble we had encountered (no welcome gifts after the clerk promised my girls; no robes, extra pillows or blankets after calling several times, and a few other little incidents, not including the wet paint issue had stacked up over the last few days). Here’s a couple pictures of what we found.

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0788.jpg

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0789.jpg

There was also a very nice card from star services apologizing for everything. It was very, very nice and completely unexpected. We eventually got all the things we had asked for anyway, and our turndown service had been top notch. They really took care of us, though I believe they were still trying to make up for painting our room 5 seconds before we went in. I don’t want to harp on that issue, but it is the one thing that really stuck with us. We understand everything else, but why in hell would maintenance paint our room right before we got there. It was just such a dumb thing to do. . .but worse, not even telling us that he had just touched up some spots when he was still in the room when we got there!! Ok, no more rants about the paint thing. . . promise. My girls were way too full to get into those cookies, so I put their milk in the cooler, we closed up the lunch boxes and they became their “treasure boxes”. Now they would have yummy snacks for the next few days. My girls don’t drink white milk, so knowing that, I had brought along some Ovaltine so we would be able to get some milk down them while vacationing. We were good to go!!

I called our manager and left a message saying thanks for everything they had done for us and got the girls moving towards bed. Dh and I did our book keeping and hit the hay.

Tomorrow is Aquatica and we’ve rented a cabana!!!!!!

wwessing

01-02-2009, 10:15 PM

Thursday May 1, 2008

Aquatica

I’m up early again. We want to be in the parking lot very early as I have read that Aquatica sells out and parking is a nightmare, with traffic backing up and blocking the streets. So I get ready and rouse the gang. I’m enjoying, of course, a couple cups of that delicious Emeril’s decaf while we pack our bag for the day. We’ve already got tickets and I’ve reserved a cabana for the day.

Last night, after Margaritaville, we took some pictures by Emeril’s, as you can see in the post above. To explain a bit, dd12 is a foodie in the making. She watches Emeril’s cooking shows, as well as several others, but Emeril is her favorite. She really wanted to go eat there, but we had decided we didn’t want to spend the money on someplace like that and had not put it in our plans. When Megan saw Emeril’s, she was really excited and wanted so badly to go. Apparently dh had thought a lot about this and decided we needed to go after all. I was like, “honey, there’s no way we will get ressies now. People make those weeks in advance.” He was like, well, can’t you at least try?? So I called the HRH concierge and asked about ressies for that night. He was like, can I call you back in like 10 minutes, I’m in the middle of something, and then I will be happy to help you. I said that was fine and hung up. You all know he needed 10 minutes to laugh his *** of f at us ignorant idots, right? I accepted that knowing we were the laughingstock of HRH that morning, but didn’t care as long as I could honestly say I had tried my best.

About 20 minutes later, the concierge calls back and said he was sorry; he was trying to get some tickets for another guest when I had called and asked what he could do for us. I asked if he had injured himself laughing at my request and he said no, that he’d had much more unreasonable requests and he would see what he could do. We talked for a couple more minutes, I explained what we would be willing to accept and he got busy. It wasn’t long before he called back and said he had managed to get a table for us, but it was kind of later in the evening. I was absolutely amazed and accepted the offer, so he called back and made our reservation for that evening. Crazy, right??

In the midst of all this, we eat a light breakfast in the room and off we go, right on time. I program our friend, GPS, with Aquatica’s address, though dh knows right where it’s at since he’s been paying attention with all the driving around we have done. We arrive early and get great parking for a small fee of $10.00. The landscaping is beautiful and very well done. One of the girls has to go to the bathroom, and right now, can’t wait until we get our cabana. So dh takes her off to find a restroom and I go inside the little customer service hut thing to find out about our cabana. I don’t have to wait long and we get everything straightened away and the young man assigned to our cabana is called to take us directly to it. Dh and dd’s are nowhere to be found, so we set off without them. We weren’t actually assigned a specific cabana, you have your choice and it’s first come, first served, so if you rent one, get there super, super early. We had some great choices, so I pick one without dh’s input since he’s not there and we drop our stuff. There was an issue with additional charges for any number of people over 4. Since I made our reservations prior to this rule, we didn’t have to pay for our 5th person and were brought extra towels and chairs. There were a couple loungers, a couple standard pool chairs and a couple beach chairs that sit really low to the ground. There was a small table and a refrigerator. The canvas sides were down, except the very front was tied back to make a doorway, but you could tie them back to see out any side you wanted, and you could completely close all sides if you wanted total privacy (ahem). The fridge was well stocked with soft drinks, water and some Hi-C drinks.

I decided I better go find dh because there’s no way he’s going to know where I’m at, so off I go, and finally run into him. We all go back to the cabana, where we get settled and tell the girls to put on lots of sunscreen. Remember I mentioned they were already sunburned? Well, the sunscreen burned the skin on their faces, so dd12 wouldn’t use any. She tried and it burned a little, so she wouldn’t put anymore on. There was no way we could go out with her like that, so we ended up sitting inside the cabana for like 2 hours until dh finally went and bought her a hat ($19.96 with cabana rental discount) that could be pulled down far enough so her whole face was shaded. In the meantime, the other girls had gone off to ride and were to check in from time to time. This park is HUGE, so you have to pay attention to where you are or it would be easy to get lost. Our cabana was right next to the wave pools, so it was pretty easy to keep track of where you were.

We were provided with a menu for lunch. You have lots of options and can go to several places to eat or pick up food, or you can order from a menu they provide you and your order will be brought to your cabana picnic style. We decided we would like to have our lunch brought early, so we ordered a variety of items and a few extra things, like fruit, to put in the fridge for a snack later. We ordered a roast beef sub ($6.99), Turkey sandwich ($6.79), 3 kids meals that had ham and turkey on foccacia bread ($7.28 each), a grilled chicken salad to share ($7.99), some melon ($3.29), grapes ($3.29) and a bag of chips to go with the kids meal sandwiches since it didn’t come with any ($2.49 each bag). The total, with tax, was $61.44. The kids meals came with souvenir boxes and some little memento. The food was good, but we thought it was pricey for what you were getting. Keeping in mind where we were, it wasn’t too bad however, and the portions were large. We had plenty for an early lunch since our breakfast was very light and then plenty for a mid-afternoon snack.

So dh and I are sitting in this cabana with our crying 12 year old, refusing to put anything on her skin, so after an hour of trying to reason with her, we decide to let her work it out herself and we leave the cabana to go check things out. We go find the lazy river and take a trip around. Just as we are getting out, the other girls come running up telling us dd12 wants us, so we head back to the cabana. She says she really wants to go play, but can’t put anything on, so I send dh off to look for a hat. He finds a shop, but doesn’t want to buy anything without her with him, so he comes back to the cabana, we put a towel over her head and off they go to get a hat. When they return, she was all smiles under her hat. So you are probably wondering why we didn’t do that in the first place. Well. . . I don’t have a freaking clue! We didn’t think of it I guess, but we certainly could have saved ourselves a lot of grief. As a result of all this, dh, dd12 and I didn’t get to experience the whole park. We spent time in the wave pool and lots of time on the lazy rivers and dh and dd12 went on a few slides. Dh says we will be going again on our next trip to FL and Aquatica will be our first day, and perhaps our second. He feels like he only saw half the park and didn’t ride 1/3 of what was there. The other two girls rode quite a bit, but they didn’t get to everything either. By 3:30, they are absolutely fried and hurting and ready to go, even though this is the coolest water park ever. Like I said, next time we will plan things differently. This was the one flaw in my 18 months of planning. I did not take sunburn into consideration. We did use tons of sunscreen, but that FL sun is something we are not used to, and, on top of that, our girls are very fair skinned. Around 2:30 the kids are hungry, so I get out the salad and fruit and it is plenty for everyone. After that, they are ready to go. It’s about 3:30, and we have dinner reservations we are excited about, so we pack up and head out. Did I mention that I took all the drinks from the fridge? There were lots of them left and we paid for them as part of the cabana rental, so why should we leave them in there??

The girls wore towels over their head and shoulders on the way to the parking lot. It was the hottest day so far and that sun was beating down on us. I was wishing for an umbrella for shade on my way out!

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0790.jpg

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0792.jpg

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0793.jpg

We snapped a few pics as we wandered out of the park.

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0796.jpg

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0797.jpg

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0800.jpg

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0805.jpg

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0806.jpg

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0813.jpg

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0814.jpg

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0815.jpg

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0816.jpg

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0817.jpg

So in the van and back to HRH for a little rest and showers in order to prepare for our big night out. Dh dropped us at the door at HRH, so we went in and waited in the lobby area for him to park the van and join us. Here's a few pics while we waited.

Hannah is holding the sand bucket that they got with their kid's meals at Aquatica.
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0820.jpg

You can see dd12 is not happy about waiting in the lobby. Dh had all the keys with him.
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0821.jpg

Feel the excitement!!
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0822.jpg

Finally, dh returns and we go to the room for some much needed rest and airconditioning.

I want to add a note here, about Aquatica cabana tipping. When the young man first led me to our cabana, he took a moment to explain how things work and what options we had. He explained about getting fresh towels whenever we needed them, bringing lunch if we ordered, etc. I took the opportunity to ask him about tipping, because I hadn't read anything about it and I just didn't know. So I asked him what most people did in that regard. He said that Aquatica didn't encourage tipping. They had to be asked THREE times to accept a tip before they could, and he said that most of the staff would still decline anyway. Tipping was definitely NOT encouraged here. Actually, it was refreshing and I liked the policy, though felt that they deserved a tip more than most. This policy may have changed, I don't know, but this is how things stood in the spring, 2008.

Added note: Thanks to an alert reader, I realize I neglected to include the cost of the Aquatica cabana. Please know that when I made reservations in like January of 2008, Aquatica was not yet open and their website did not yet even allow purchasing of tickets, much less reserving cabanas. So I called and spoke with a representative. It was obviously something that was way, way brand new, but we were quoted the price of $150 from open to close. There would be tax added at the rate of 6.5%, so %9.75 for a total of $159.75. I heard, before we even traveled, that the rate was going up and that they were charging an extra person fee for each person over 4. Perhaps a limit of 7 people per cabana was established and I think the fee was like maybe $35 per person extra. As you will read in a following post, I made the case that this was not policy when I reserved, so they didn't charge us for our 5th person. I know the rates were higher by at least $50 during the "season".

Next up, supper at Emeril’s!!!

macraven

01-02-2009, 10:33 PM

i'm still reading as you are posting wendy...

Worfiedoodles

01-03-2009, 07:10 AM

I'm still reading, too! We are thinking about a day at Aquatica, and I'm trying to learn all I can. Thanks for the fantastic, detailed description, and sorry about those sunburns!

Maria

wwessing

01-03-2009, 08:21 AM

I'm still reading, too! We are thinking about a day at Aquatica, and I'm trying to learn all I can. Thanks for the fantastic, detailed description, and sorry about those sunburns!

Maria

On our next trip, we will probably spend 2 days at Aquatica. Before we went to FL, we had decided no water parks. When I found out about Aquatica, however, it changed our minds. We were thinking, we can to go a waterpark anytime, anywhere, let's not waste a day on that. Let me tell you that unless you are from the Orlando area and can experience those level of waterparks all the time, it is soooo worth it to spend at least one day at Aquatica. I have read reviews saying it's not as good as a couple of the others, but in our experience, which granted, is very limited, Aquatica is beyond compare. I think they are all good and at any one of them you would have a wonderful day. It's just that Aquatica is unique and new and fresh. It is a bit pricey, but what isn't in Orlando. The cabana's are expensive, but we think they are worth it. It just depends on what kind of family you are and what type of experience you are looking for. When we return, we will probably go to Aquatica for two days and both days we will rent a cabana because we think the expense is worth it. You have shade when you want it; you have a guaranteed place to sit and meet and relax; you can order food for all day, like we did when we were there and not have to wait until your kids are screaming hungry to go figure out what they want and then wait in line. No one can steal your chairs or your space. My kids, and husband, want to go the minute the place opens, then stay until is closes. I have enough waterpark after a few hours, so it gives me a place to relax, read my books, take a nap, do whatever I want and still enjoy myself while my family takes all the time they want at the park. I could easily see one day at the beginning of our trip at Aquatica, then another towards the end.

I should have had more pictures and details about the rides and park itself, but since we didn't get to spend enough time exploring, I didn't get too many pictures on my digital camera, or enough information to share the really good details. I've got some candid and underwater photos with a waterproof camera, but they aren't digital and I can't put my hands on the photo disk. Later I will add those photos. All I know is the park was beautiful, well managed and packed. Even will all those people, the lines moved at a decent pace, there was always a life jacket or tube when we needed one and we had plenty of space to play.

We think Aquatica is a can't miss attraction, even without having visitited the other water parks. You won't be disappointed.

wwessing

01-03-2009, 10:05 AM

Emerils at City Walk
Thursday, May 1, 2008

I can’t remember exactly what time our ressies were for. I’m thinking 9:00pm, but I’m not too sure. The concierge had told us to go early because sometimes they will be able to seat you.

After naps and showers, we were ready to go at about 8:00. We wandered down to the boat and took it to City Walk. It was cool and there was no sun to burn the kids, and they are starving!

I’m just going to put you on notice now, that there are no pictures this evening. I was not going to take pictures of the food in Emeril’s anyway, but dh had told me not to do it tonight. I know, I know. . . . everyone wants pics of Emeril’s dishes, but I wasn’t comfortable doing it, and hubby wasn’t either. We don’t eat at places like Emeril’s. Dh and I ate at some very, very nice places in Las Vegas, but our kids haven’t been to a place like this, so we were all looking forward to the experience.

After a half hour of wandering around (notice we wander around a lot – it’s our way of relaxing and saying no to a crazy, busy world while we are on vacation. We refuse to be in a hurry to get anywhere and go at our own pace, take our time to see and do what we want. There’s too much hurrying and scurrying at home in our real lives, so we don’t do rushing anywhere on vacation) we head to Emeril’s and dh goes to check us in. It’s about 8:40 and they have our table ready! Yes!!

We were seated at a beautifully set, large round table in the center of the restaurant. We ordered drinks (4 soft drinks @ $2.00 each and water with lemon) and my girls decided they needed to use the restroom (ok, so this is something they do everywhere we go. They MUST explore and going to the restroom is the perfect excuse. . . like we don’t know cuz we are stupid ole’ parents. We don’t mind, it is harmless and they are very careful of stranger danger, so we let them believe we think they have an urgent need to relieve themselves within 3 minutes of sitting down at any restaurant.) so we ask the waiter where the restrooms are located. He escorted my girls to the restroom, held the door for them and then waited for them to return to the table so he could hold their chairs for them. He’s working on 25% tip, now isn’t he? Despite my initial concerns, they were very family friendly, though there were not many youngsters dining at this time. It may have been because of the time and most families had eaten and were back at their hotels, but we definitely noticed the lack of children. There was maybe one other child at the time we were there, but my girls were extremely well behaved. No giggling, as girls like to do; no fidgeting or whining or anything that could be considered ill-mannered. They were polite, said please and thank you and we were very proud. Ok, ok . . . . I was going to leave it at that and let you all think “oh, what wonderful children”. . . but me being who I am, I can’t, so here’s the truth. Before we even left the hotel, I made them all sign death warrants. If they so much as issued one tiny giggle, they were meat for the next day’s stew!!! For once, they knew I was serious and, in all fairness, they wanted to enjoy the meal and be allowed to return someday, for another fine dining experience. Plus, this was big, big and huge to dd12 (the cooking show, foodie in training child of ours) and they respected that. No matter, they were golden and we were proud.

So, it’s time to order and dh wants an appetizer. He ordered BBQ Shrimp ($10.20) for us to share. While we wait for that, a selection of bread is brought around. You are asked if you would like a roll, and if you do, you can choose which type and they serve you. There are small dishes of butter on the table and the bread was tasty. Bread dude came around twice and we all had a second roll.

We also decided on and ordered our entrees. Dh had duck ($36.00); I had a grilled chicken dish with collard greens ($26.00) and our girls ordered from the children’s menu. . . . yes, there was a children’s menu. Dd12 ordered the kids shrimp ($9.50) and the other two chose the kids chicken dish $8.50 each).

Now the shrimp comes, and our waiter wants to serve it to everyone, but dh says “no, thanks” because he knows who wants what, so he shares it around himself. There wasn’t very much, so I had one shrimp, dd9 had none as she doesn’t care for shrimp unless it’s fried, and dd16 had a shrimp or two. Dd12 and dh polished it off the several pieces each and that was the end of that. Very, very good!

It is not long and our main course is served. It is worth a mention that every time we finished a roll, or another dish, someone would come over and brush away the crumbs from the table cloth. It became funny that every time I took a drink from my water glass, a wait person rushed over to refill it. My 12 year old told me to fake taking a drink to see if they would start to the table. . . so I did it. . .and yes, they started over but I coughed and sat the glass down without drinking, so they backed away. It was funny, kind of obnoxious after a while and seriously overkill. Intrusive would be a good description. If I were forced to find one tiny little thing that was less than perfect, that would have been it. You don’t have to allow my glass to be completely empty so ice is rattling around, but come on, I don’t need a water refill after every other sip!!

Anyway, our food comes and it is so delicious I do not have the words for it!!! The greens were absolutely the best I have ever had in my entire life, and yes, I do love greens. We find them whenever we can in our home town and I eat them at least a couple times a month. I eat delicious, well prepared greens on a regular basis, but these. . . ambrosia. Weird that I am waxing poetic about some collard greens right??? Seriously, they were so good we asked for an extra order to be boxed up to take with us for later. Dh likes greens too, and I wanted him to be able to enjoy some, but I didn’t really want to share more than a bite of mine. (To-go greens - $8.00). Unlike the evening before, the portions were plentiful, but not so much that you couldn’t eat the meal and be comfortable. In other words, they were just right. So, we decided we had a little room for dessert. How can you not go for the gold at Emeril’s. We decide we will share desserts and the kids order a banana split ($5.00) and dh and I choose german cake ($8.00). The banana split was actually pretty ordinary, but the german cake was, as you might expect, simply delicious.

Dh is presented with the bill and it’s not as bad as we thought it might be. The total was $137 with tax and a $30 tip (about 22%), with a little cash left on the table for whoever cleared up. In total, we dropped like $170 and left absolutely, 100% completely happy to have done so. I’m thinking it would have been much more expensive had we chosen to drink wine. Had we not had our kids, we likely would have experienced their offerings, but we did not feel as though we missed a thing.

Next time I think we will try Tchoup Chop and see if it is as good. I’ve read reviews where some folks think it is better, but I can’t imagine. Different type of cuisine, I believe, so next time we will be up for that.

I highly recommend Emeril’s on City Walk and consider it as a do not miss as well.

When we finished, it was after 10:00pm, the kids were tired, we were tired and couldn’t imagine anything topping that experience, so we went to the boat dock, waited only a few minutes and hopped a boat back to HRH.

As expected, turn down service had been completed, there were trinkets for the girls, all was cleaned up and nice and cool. Kids got ready for bed quickly and were out soon after. Dh and I, as usual, did a bit of bookwork and discussed plans for tomorrow, Friday. Due to their severe sunburns, we felt like we really couldn’t spend the day at the pool, or at the parks, so we needed to find something else to do. We decided to make the next day a shopping and exploring day, plus we thought we would try breakfast at The Kitchen.

Next up, shopping, eating and exploring.

macraven

01-03-2009, 10:27 AM

wwessing

01-03-2009, 11:08 AM

wendy, based on your pictures, that was the welcome gift.
cookies in the car box .

your special gifts were the lunch boxes with the milk and cookies.

those are not regularly given out to guests.
i guess you all were special on the trip and got lucky with the extras!
congrats!

Yeah. . . if I didn't make that clear, you are correct. Here's what happened.

When we checked in on Monday, the registration person gave my girls some blow up guitars, welcomed them and told them milk and cookies would be waiting in the room for them tonight as our welcome gift. So, naturally, being normal kids, they were expecting the milk and cookes as they had been told they would be there. So we explained to the kids that sometimes these things happen. Also, there were 2 robes hanging in the room when we got there, but we couldn't just give 2 kids the robes and tell the 3rd one too bad, so we called star services and requested turn down service, another robe and some more pillows and bedding for the pull out that dd16 would be sleeping on.

We had gone to the parks, come back when they called to say the room was ready, changed and went to dinner. No turn down service, cookies and milk or anything else we had requested in evidence. So I called star services, made a second request and called the manager we were dealing with (wet paint in the room episode happened that first day as well) about something else and she asked how things were going and if we had received everything. I told her no and she said she was calling star services herself and to expect the welcome gift shortly. Never showed up, though the pillows did.

The next day, the manager called us again to talk about something and asked how the girls liked the milk and cookies. I told her they had never arrived, and she was not happy. When we got back to the room that night, there were 3 large cookies and a large jar of milk waiting for them. That was our welcome gift, as expected.

It was the next night that we came back and found the lunch box with milk and cookies inside with a note from star services. This was NOT the welcome gift, but was a "we are very sorry" gift because my girls had been told 2 times in the same day that their milk and cookies were on the way, only to be disappointed. Plus, we never did get the extra robe or blanket.

So, to make things very clear for all reading this report, the lunch box with the milk and cookies is NOT THE WELCOME GIFT. It was an unexpected, unsolicited gift because of several incidents that happened in the first couple days we were there. It was just a little extra something for the trouble, which is a sign of excellent quality service in my mind, and they wanted to make up to my kids for disappointing them.

From time to time, things go awry, even in a quality resort such as HRH. Management takes their responsibility very seriously, as well as most of the employees we encountered there, and, in my experience, they go above and beyond to compensate if something does go wrong. One should not expect these things from management, but it is a delightful surprise when they take a little "extra" care with you. I do advocate for speaking with a manager should something not be to your satisfaction. If they don't know, they can't fix it.

At the end of this report, I will summarize our experience at Hard Rock Hotel, but I can say now, we would return in a heartbeat and were sad to leave. HRH was hugely responsible for helping us make our vacation special and we have wonderful, lasting memories of our stay there. It is unique in so many ways and while our visit wasn't without mishaps and flaws, I still say it was the best experience we have ever had at any hotel anywhere in the US.

So, I reiterate, if you have a legitimate complaint, speak with a manager. I say legitimate because I'm certain there are those who complain about the quality of towels, or size of bathroom, or whatever other ridiculous things people come up with. They can't help if you are ridiculous and petty, but they will do what they can if you need their assistance with something real if only they know. Don't wait until you come home and write a trip report to complain about something, do it right when it occurs and while you are there. Otherwise, in my mind, you have no legit complaint!

RVGal

01-03-2009, 06:02 PM

I'm still in the process of catching up here, but I just have to ask:

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0716-1.jpg

Ummm... is that... I mean... are they... ummm... :eek:

teresared

01-03-2009, 08:57 PM

macraven

01-03-2009, 11:01 PM

wwessing

01-04-2009, 01:37 PM

I'm still in the process of catching up here, but I just have to ask:

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0716-1.jpg

Ummm... is that... I mean... are they... ummm... :eek:

Hey Tricia! Glad you are still with me, and uuummmm in regards to your question,

I'm guessing so. . . . .

Dd12 took that pic. She was fascinated with those little lizards the entire time we were in FL. She look everywhere for them and tried so hard to catch one. Every time we went out the door, she was on alert.

wwessing

01-04-2009, 01:51 PM

Great trip report!!! I was wondering about the cost of the cabana at Aquatica. It sounds like a great option for my family, but I'm not sure if the cost would be in our budget. It sounds like you had a great time at Universal. Looking forward to the next installment.:thumbsup2

Ok, so here is the deal with the cabana. I found out Aquatica was opening right before we were traveling. I also found out they had cabana rentals. We had decided we were going to rent one at HRH, and in fact had reservations. After processing this, we determined that our money would be much better spent on a cabana at Aquatica than at HRH.

So, I went to Aquatica's website, which was brand new and you couldn't do anything there, so I called. At that time, waaaaay early in 2008, you called the toll free number used for SeaWorld and other Anheuser parks. I asked about the cabana rentals, was provided details and decided it wasn't such a bad deal at all.

At HRH we were paying $200 for a cabana. . . just a cabana. Nothing in it, no benefits or perks, just the cabana.

At Aquatica, the cabana rented for $150 (plus tax @6.5% = $9.75) and you got the cabana from open to close. It included 6 chairs (2 loungers, 2 standard and 2 low to the ground beach type chairs). There was a small table and all the towels you needed. When you wanted fresh, all you had to do was ask. The refrigerator was stocked with drinks (I'm a little blurry on this, but it was like maybe 4 soft drinks, 4 bottles of water and 4 Hi-C drinks) and, if memory serves, there was maybe a ceiling fan of some type hooked up. It was wonderful and worth every penny, especially since our girls were so sunburned. We would do it again in a heartbeat. Having said all that, I heard that after we booked our cabana, the prices went up and they instituted a policy of the price including only 4 people. There, I believe, is an additional charge for each additional person. I think I remember it being ridiculous which is why when I heard, I called and made the case that they instituted that policy after we made our reservations, so it would be unfair for them to charge us for our 5th person. They took care of it, and I know we saw other cabanas with lots of people. I don't know if that extra person charge is enforceable or not, because how can they determine if someone is just stopping by for a hello, or utilizing the cabana all day. Maybe that rule will quickly be done away with, if it already has not. They should say ok, here is the price for the cabana, here is what comes with it and that's what you are paying for. If you have 2 people who enjoy it, or 10, it doesn't matter to us. The only thing I can see is people renting a cabana and then having like 20 people trying to use the area and that wouldn't be fair to those who have rented around them. I seem to recall there was a limit of like 7 people per cabana anyway.

Good question, by the way, and I can't believe I forget to include the cost of the cabana in the report. I'll go back and include it for future reference.

macraven

01-04-2009, 02:06 PM

i think you received incorrect information on the universal cabanas.

wwessing

01-04-2009, 02:28 PM

i think you received incorrect information on the universal cabanas.

As I read your post, I thought back to what those cabanas included and checked my notes.

You are right, they do include some things such as table and chairs, television and fridge. I don't think the fridge is stocked though, and I'm sure they don't provide towels. Seems like my notes indicate there are "cabana boys" that will get you drinks and such, same as if you were sitting pool-side. You can order lunch from there as well, but again, same as sitting pool-side. I probably missed something, so please fill in what I've left out. I know there are homies who love, love, love those cabanas and rent them every time they visit. They'll be along to correct me. . .but I'm right on the price for certain. And that was in the off season. I don't know if the rates go even higher, especially in the themed cabanas. If memory serves, though, the non-themed cabanas don't have the things those that are themed do.

Straighten this out guys. I don't want to be responsible for misrepresenting HRH cabanas, and I don't want to appear to be Uni resort cabana bashing here. But when compared, in our opinion, the Aquatica cabanas were more worth the money. We took into consideration that we probably wouldn't spend an entire day at the pool at our hotel, so close to the parks as we were going to at Aquatica. Also, if we were hot, or thirsty or tired, we could go to the room for a time. . . we couldn't do that at Aquatica. If budgets would have allowed (well, if dh would have allowed) we might have rented both and as a matter of fact, we didn't cancel our HRH cabana ressie until like 48 hours prior when the sunburns first started appearing and we knew we couldn't do Aquatica and then a pool day right after.

macraven

01-04-2009, 03:35 PM

Spend the day at the pool enjoying the sunshine while remaining cool by renting one of our cabanas, which come equipped with a ceiling fan, a plasma TV, wireless internet, fruit basket, 6 sodas and 2 bottled waters, and of course, a server to bring you drinks all day long! Call 407-503-2236 to reserve your cabana.

For the full rock n’ roll experience upgrade to one of our themed cabanas and spend the afternoon in "The Yellow Submarine" or Stevie Wonder’s "Musiquarium."

the food and beverages are included in the cabana price rental.
i copied this from the website.
ceiling fans, plasma tv, wireless internet, fruit basket, 6 sodas, 2 waters, chairs, lounges and towels are provided in the cost.

this past trip i noticed phones were in each cabana also.

cabana people are assigned to the cabanas for any service you need.

the themed cabanas cost more than the others.
there are discounts for the cabanas for club guests.
not sure about AP holders if they get discounts.

cabanas rental is for the entire day/night.

wwessing

01-04-2009, 04:12 PM

Thanks Mac, for setting the record straight.

EPRV We love Disney

01-04-2009, 08:31 PM

Loving your report!!

Thanks so much for all of your information. I'm really enjoying reading about your trip.

:goodvibes

wwessing

01-04-2009, 11:59 PM

Friday, May 2, 2008

Shopping and messing around day

Due to sunburns, as previously mentioned, we knew that we had to have a day that would keep the girls mostly out of the sun. So, we decided to do some messing around and souvenir shopping.

We got up at our leisure and went to breakfast at HRH’s The Kitchen. They had a wonderful buffet that everyone in the family greatly enjoyed. We were kind of disappointed that we had waited so long to check this out. . . but, at least we had the opportunity to enjoy their offerings this morning.

After breakfast, we load up in the van and set out to see what we could see. We stopped and filled the gas tank, found a restroom since the one at the service station was too yucky to use and loaded back up.

We wanted to get a few little souvenirs for the girl’s to give to their friends and look for something unique for ourselves. We didn’t want to spend a bundle, so specialty shops weren’t really what we were looking for. I can’t recall the name of the shops we stopped at, but they had these giant eagles painted on the building and they were huge. From the second we walked in, we knew we were in the wrong place. This place was dirty, had gum stuck to the floor, was extremely smelly (eeewwwwww) and their merchandise was junk. Even the beach towels were useless, so out we went. Those 10 minutes were the most wasted of our vacation and we can never get them back. If you see the shops I’m talking about. . . be warned, don’t bother. If you want a cheap little shot glass with a palm tree, this is your place, but otherwise, steer clear.

Apparently, not learning our lesson the first time around, dh pulls up to another store very similar to the first and insists we at least check it out. The second I opened the door, I said “ok, checked out and found to be sorry so back in the van”. Dh knew I was right, so off we went in search of some real souvenir shopping. I must say, at this point, I don’t think we ever truly found what we were looking for.

Before we go back to Orlando next time, I will definitely research this issue in depth. There are locals who regularly spend time on these boards and their knowledge would prove invaluable. I don’t know why I never thought to ask about it before, but it should seriously be a topic regularly visited. Junk shops to stay away from and what to visit that is worth you time. Maybe this should be a chapter in one of Kelly Monaghan’s books. I found some excellent information in his books, such as the go-kart track place we visited and several other wonderful tidbits (the Desert Lady). Kelly, are you there?? We need advice on some serious souvenir shopping that is not found at the outlet mall or at those huge, smelly, dirty junk stores.

Finally, around 10:30 we come across a place called ShellWorld. At first we passed it up, but then thought it might be interesting and our girls really, really wanted to find jewelry boxes made from shells. So, dh turns around and backtracks to the shell shop. Outside was what appeared to be a golf cart completely covered in shells. As you can see from the pics, the girls thought this was something.

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0823.jpg

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0824.jpg

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0827.jpg

We spent about an hour shopping here and dh got out for only $100! Can you believe it? We found all kinds of stuff that the girls wanted for their friends, and of course themselves as well. Nothing was expensive, but nothing truly unique either. They were happy, so that’s what mattered and they did get their shell jewelry boxes. It seemed like every time we were ready to check out, we would find another display or whatever that caught our attention and there was something we just HAD to have. The guy checking us out, who I believe was the owner, was so patient and tolerant you could tell this was like an everyday thing for him. He ended up giving each of the girls a shell necklace as we were leaving.

So, back in the van with no particular destination in mind, however we know we are not interested in the mall or those big souvenir shops. I know we drove around for maybe another 90 minutes, stopping to check out a few places, but we never hit pay dirt. We did come across this store that sold fresh citrus. We went in to see what they offered and sampled their oranges and juice. It was delicious, but dh wanted to ask some questions, so we found the owner. After he spent 10 minutes grilling the poor lady, we left with assurances we would be back the morning we were leaving to stock our cooler with orange juice, oranges and grapefruit. We bought a couple oranges and a small bottle of juice to share with the girls.

At this point, we are hungry and remember seeing a Macaroni Grill. I know, I know, why a Macaroni Grill. Those are everywhere. Well, the closest one to where we live is 90 miles away, so we don’t get there much. My job requires me to travel quite a bit, so I eat there a couple times a year, but dh doesn’t get the opportunity and kind of wanted to take the girls. Ok, so he takes us to Macaroni Grill and in we go. We are immediately seated because it is late for lunch but way too early for supper. There are only maybe 3 other table occupied, but we figure we will get solid service and good preparation. Our waiter was a hoot, but by the end of the meal, we were glad to be finished and leaving. I wanted to ask him why he didn’t just have a seat and join us he was at our table so much, but dh said “uuhh, no, you will not be rude so just eat your meal and shush”. Wellll alrighty then! Trust me, he will pay for that. . . talk about rude! Jeeesh! My husband is the most kind, mild mannered, tolerant man I have ever, ever met. We are like this weird odd couple because I’m very outspoken and impatient. . . ok, ok, bordering on aggressive when the situation requires it. I just don’t tolerate crap and have zero patience for stupid. I’m opinionated but usually very well informed, so not afraid to speak up. I like to stand for those who don’t have a voice or who aren’t heard. I’ve worked for a social service agency for nearly 14 years, so I found my calling years ago. Now you all know I’m not getting rich off my salary, so trips like this must be well planned and prepared for. Once every 5 years or so we are able to blow one out like we did here.

Ok, ok. . . back on track. So our waiter, his name was Mac and I’ll never forget him, but he’ll always remember that crazy family from Illinois. He even took our dd9 to his station to order the children’s sundae’s that came with their meals. She thought she was the shiznit, let me tell you! So dd9 had the kid’s pasta dinner (aka spaghetti), dd’s 12 & 16 had the kids grilled chicken and kid’s alfredo meals. Each of those 3 meals were $5.29 and included drinks, entrée and dessert. I had Penne Rustica ($10.29) and dh had chicken Portobello ($12.99). Dh and I each ordered a soft drink @$2.19 each. Service was very good; the food was ok to good, so dh tipped around 20% for a total of $56.00. I know this is probably too much information, but during my research, I promised that I would provide as many annoying, boring little details and I could because I am sure that someone will want to know. I wanted to know how much things cost for the budget I prepared and I wanted to know about tipping as well, so that is why I include that ridiculous level of detail. For those who aren’t interested, please forgive me and just keep plowing through.

Now we go back to the van and dh wants to go to the Bass Pro Shop. We saw one during our meanderings earlier and it looked like it was pretty big. So off we go and end up spending another hour in there. We did some shopping, but again dh gets lucky and leaves without dropping even $100. Mostly it was his purchases anyway, but he wanted to try buffalo jerky, so had to bring several bags back to the “fellas” at home. Plus, as you must know by now, he is a huge NASCAR fan and he found some stuff he wanted to bring home to his racing buddies.

Now it’s like 4:00pm and we decide to head back to HRH and figure out what to do from there. When we get to the room, there’s a message from the manager I had been working with for our reservations, and who had checked in with us a few times during our stay and he said he wanted to meet us in person to say hello and also let us know there was a concert that night that he thought our girls would really enjoy. He said 8:00 for the concert, so we figured we would go to City Walk, grab some dinner and head back.

I guess around 6:00 we head to CW and had every intention of going to Bubba Gumps. We had some gift cards we had purchased prior to traveling thanks to a tip from another diser (you know who you are, mamma) that we needed to use, so we boated over and headed to Bubba’s. Once there, we quickly realized that this was not going to fit in our plans if we wanted to get back to HRH for the concert because the wait was like 90 minutes and they don’t honor the priority seating for resort guests. So, we go back to NASCAR café because we also had some gift cards from there that we had forgotten to use on our previous visit. Wee really didn’t want to repeat a restaurant, but even though they were just as busy, they honored priority seating and we waited only maybe 5 minutes and got the same table as before. This time dd16 ordered more appropriately, we declined getting the picture since we had bought the one taken earlier in the week and we were in kind of a hurry. None of us were really that hungry since our lunch had been later, so we only ordered a kids chicken tender meal ($5.99) for dd’s 16 & 12 to share. I ordered a burger with fries ($10.58) and shared with dd9, and the other girls and dh ordered the pork chop meal ($17.49), which he also shared with our girls. Jeez, I’m trying to remember that meal. Was it the ½ the pig or what. . . . $17.49 for a pork chop??? Food was good; service was quick, as requested, so dh tipped 20%. Total spent was $55.00. Oh, yeah, I forgot to mention that we ordered 3 sweet teas ($7.47), which is only worth mentioning because one of those was mine. I usually drink water with lemon, but that sweet tea sounded soooo good, I ordered one. . . which was a foolish mistake. I don’t use caffeine, remember, because I have an extra heartbeat which is exaggerated by caffeine. Plus, I’d forgotten, but brewed tea had begun to cause heartburn right before I quit drinking it. Ok, so now I’ve drank a giant glass of iced tea (it was soooooooo good though) which is more caffeine at once than I have ingested in several years and my heartbeat is pronounced, so I am anxious because I can feel that extra beat when it happens, plus I’m all wired up and shaky from the caffeine, which I’m no longer used to feeling. I just want to lie down and sleep until the effects wear off, but I know I can’t. I drink a couple glasses of water to try to move the caffeine out of my system, or dilute it or whatever I was thinking at the time, so now I just have to continually go to the bathroom. Yes, I know, enough whining, I made a choice so I had to live with it without whining or ruining the evening for my family.

Back to the boat and our return to HRH is relaxing, beautiful and takes my anxiety way down. By the time we made it to the lobby, the band was playing its final song! What. . . we were told 8:00. It’s only like 8:15. Oops, the manager had told us 8:00, but the performance really started at 7:00. I guess it was meant to be, because my girls were able to meet the band and get their pictures taken with them.

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0828.jpg

I can’t recall the name of the band these kids formed, but I guess they are all the rage in the area and had just gotten some big recording deal. So watch out for them!! As this is all going on, I asked to see our manager and he came to greet us. It was wonderful to be able to shake his hand and thank him for all his assistance. He really went above and beyond anything I expected or have ever witnessed before. We could not thank him enough. I’m glad he was able to see how happy my kids were and they got to tell him themselves how much they LOVED HRH, and everything we had been doing. I hope that made all his hard work worth it. Especially since our dd16 has some disabilities, but we had not had any major issues at all! All her needs were met, and then some and that is quite an accomplishment I must say.

Another thing we saw quite a bit at HRH was various artists performing their craft. There seemed to always be someone creating something each day. This night, there was an artist creating caricatures. I know, they are a dime a dozen. But after seeing what this guy drew for another family, we knew we had to immortalize this moment. It was expensive, but he could do all three girls together, though they had to sit separately. The level of detail he included was excellent and we were glad to have spent the money. He deserved what he charged and more than earned his generous tip!

Here’s some random pics we took while waiting for the girls to be finished sitting.

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0830.jpg

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0837.jpg

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0838.jpg

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0831.jpg

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0832.jpg

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0833.jpg

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0834.jpg

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0835.jpg

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0836.jpg

Here's a shot of that delicious Emerils coffee brewing one fresh cup at a time!
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0839.jpg

After this, it was getting late and we took the girls to the room, where turn down service had, as usual, done a great job with the room and the kids were in bed in no time. They really wanted to go swimming because they had heard the boys from the band were going to, but we said no, horrible parents that we are, because we figured if that was really true, that pool would be packed with screaming 8 – 14 year olds and we wanted none of it. As it turns out, and we know this because we went out there, if those boys went swimming, they must have jumped in and out because there was no sign of them or a million girls when we went back down.

Which is a perfect time to tell you that once the girls were settled down and watching a little tv, we decided to take a little time for ourselves. We left them a cell phone, told them not to answer the door for any reason, assured them we would return to get them if the fire alarm went off, but agreed on a meeting place outside if necessary and off we went. We just wanted to explore a bit without the girls. We thought about going into the Velvet Lounge for a couple drinks, but decided we really weren’t interested in that. We are not very big drinkers, if you haven’t figured that out yet. I really, really, really hate hangovers and it seems like I get one after even a modest amount of alcohol consumption. So we walked around, saw a couple other artists, checked out the pool (no boys) and decided on treating ourselves to something in Emack & Bolio. As we were watching the artist painting right outside the door to E& B, the on-duty manager we had met earlier walked in. He stopped to pick up a couple pool towels someone had dropped on the floor (E&B is right by the pool entrance/exit if you don’t know HRH) and went on into the ice cream shop. After watching the painter for a minute, we went on in and decided on ice cream. Dh had a banana split, his signature dish and he must order one everywhere we go ($5.25) and I had something called Mad Macks ($4.65). It was soooooooooo yummy and rich and full of lovely calories and fat. It had ice cream and brownie and I don’t remember what all else. Dh grabbed a bottle of water ($4.50) and we sat down at a table. They also have glass cases with bagels, donuts and other pastries available. While we were sitting there. We saw “our” manager talking to what we guessed to be the on-duty E&B manager, and before long, there was a staff person taking everything out of those cases and cleaning them top to bottom. We had looked at the pastry just before deciding on ice cream, and didn’t see anything wrong, but apparently management thought it wasn’t clean enough. After that, they set to sweeping and cleaning the floor too. I am wired to notice things less than clean. We hadn’t seen anything that made me take notice at all, but we now understood why HRH is rated like it is. Their standards are top notch and management doesn’t just sit in an office. They are all over that place, as we witnessed every day, and holding their employees to a very strict standard. Amen to that and once again, kudos to HRH management.

After our guilty trip to E&B, we wandered a little more then went back to the room. An hour without the kids was nice, but made us feel guilty as well. Ok, ok. . . not so guilty that we didn’t do it again the next night!!!!!!

It’s light’s out for us and tomorrow is going to find us at Islands of Adventure. . . or so I thought!

Worfiedoodles

01-05-2009, 10:54 AM

wwessing

01-05-2009, 11:34 AM

What a wonderful trip, it just gets better and better! Even when you encounter something less than wonderful like the shopping, you make the best of it.

Thank you so much for the detailed information on Aquatica! We have been to Typhoon Lagoon and WetnWild before, so we know we love water parks -- and we know we need a day out of parks to just relax. I'm loving the cabana idea. I can really relax (I'm not a big rider), while dh and ds enjoy 'til their hearts are content.

It's awesome that you will have the caricature to enjoy for years to come. That's a fabulous souvenir!

And by the way, I also work in social services (with homeless persons), and I used to live in Springfield while I got my MA! My dh graduated from SIUE. I grew up in MO just a few minutes across the river.

I have always thought of Illinois as two states, Chicago and Downstate... ;)

Maria

What a smalll world we live in. I work in Springfield, and though I don't live there, I live close. I've worked in social services there for over 17 years. We don't have shelters, but still work extensively with the homeless through other programs like our breadline and crisis assistance programs. We are just delving into lower income senior housing and that's where my efforts are mostly focused right now. Providing independant, low income seniors beautiful, safe housing with the dignity that they deserve. I love working with this population and seeing how their lives change with our intervention.

You know, I believe that you make choices in your life. Such as with the shopping day. We could have decided we were going to be angry all day because we couldn't sit by the pool or play in the parks, but shopping was really a good time because we were experiencing it as a family. Laughter from my children is beautiful whether it was in the pool, at a park or in the grocery store. Doesn't matter to me. . . . I'd rather my children learn how to see the best of things and appreciate our good fortune than dwell on what might have or could have been. We are so fortunate that we were able to take that beautiful vacation, when so many others are struggling just to keep their homes.

I'm glad you are enjoying my trip report, and all it's gruesome details!! It's almost at an end, though, with just Saturday left and then Sunday is travel home day (which turned into Sunday AND Monday are travel home days). Thanks for reading!!

Worfiedoodles

01-05-2009, 11:46 AM

What a smalll world we live in. I work in Springfield, and though I don't live there, I live close. I've worked in social services there for over 17 years. We don't have shelters, but still work extensively with the homeless through other programs like our breadline and crisis assistance programs. We are just delving into lower income senior housing and that's where my efforts are mostly focused right now. Providing independant, low income seniors beautiful, safe housing with the dignity that they deserve. I love working with this population and seeing how their lives change with our intervention.

It is a small world after all! My department (within a much larger agency) builds/rehabs affordable housing. We completed a HUD 202 in 2005, 11 apartments for senior tenants. We have nearly 600 units, all targeted to tenants at incomes below 30% AMI. My role is the acquisition and retention of government funding for all our programs, so I get a good sense of the broad spectrum. I've been working with homeless persons for the last 8 years, prior to that I worked with persons exiting incarceration, and the Girl Scouts before that. I also ran a small cdc. Almost my entire career has been in the non-profit world, and I feel very fortunate. As you said, it is incredibly rewarding to actually make a difference in someone's life!

While I lived in Springfield I worked as an intern for the IL Police Training Board. That was where I got my education about Chicago and Downstate. I'm sure it must be very interesting to hear the local news coverage there these days! :rolleyes1

Maria

Metro West

01-05-2009, 09:07 PM

Great report! :teeth:

wwessing

01-05-2009, 09:51 PM

Great report! :teeth:

Hey. . .glad you're here! Got any 411 on that shopping dilema I described?? I'm guessing you don't do much souvenir shopping. . . .but you know about everything else, so, come on, give up the good stuff!!:laughing:

macraven

01-08-2009, 08:14 PM

still more days coming on the report wendy?

i'm waiting.

ky07

01-09-2009, 03:43 PM

Great trip report :goodvibes

wwessing

01-09-2009, 05:38 PM

still more days coming on the report wendy?

i'm waiting.

There is just one more day, Saturday, at Universal. Sunday and Monday were travel days, which I will include just to be complete. My goal is to finish up this weekend.

wwessing

01-09-2009, 05:39 PM

Great trip report :goodvibes

Thanks Lawrence! Glad you are enjoying it.

Thadine

02-08-2009, 02:46 PM

donaldduck352

02-08-2009, 06:41 PM

Thats the great thing about TR"s you get a feel of the resort and plan accordingley!!:thumbsup2

wwessing

02-13-2009, 10:40 PM

Hi,

I am scrolling through the Universal/IOA stuff trying to get a few tips for our upcoming vacation and I found your trip report.
Thanks for all the great tips, I really enjoyed reading your detailed report.
Hopefully you will get a chance to finish it.

We will be eating at Margarithaville and Emerill's too but I think we will skip Bush.
I am not a roller coaster person so I am not sure that I will enjoy spending a whole day there.
We also decided to go see the Blue man group.:goodvibes

Thadine

Glad you enjoyed my report. We loved Busch Gardens, and we didn't ride any coasters. There's alot to do, especially if you have animal lovers in your family. I will say, however, when we return, we will likely skip Busch Gardens for an extra day at Aquatica. We feel like we really explored BG, but didn't so much at Aquatica. We will go back to BG, definitely, but probably not until the kids are a little older so they can enjoy it from a different perspective next time.

Enjoy your trip!

wwessing

06-23-2009, 12:16 PM

macraven

06-23-2009, 01:12 PM

I've finally finished another day of our trip. Yep, on the ball. . . . amazing, isn't it?

I've got the text completed and saved, now I'm uploading the pics to photobucket. . .which is taking FOREVER!!!! I should be able to post, complete with pics, in a couple hours :thumbsup2

and................

i set the timer on my microwave to go off 2 hours from now.....

we will see you then, won't we.....:laughing:

wwessing

06-23-2009, 09:39 PM

Photobucket is taking SO much longer than I expected. I've got tons of pics left to download, but just for Mac, I'm going to post the report and add the rest of the pictures later.

I'll be breaking it up into several posts to allow for later addition of my photos. . . here it is.

May 3, 2008
Saturday – The Final Day (besides traveling home that is)

Today is our last day at Universal. We are up early, have breakfast in the room and dressed to go. It’s a full day of Island’s today. . . . or was supposed to be. DH says he wants to go back to the Studios so he can ride the Simpson’s. After heaving a heavy put-upon sighing sound, I agree and off we go.

Once off the water taxi, up the stairs and into the Studios without much of a wait at the turnstiles. By the way, we had no problems with the ticket readers the entire time we were here. Straight back to the Simpson’s. . . . . whoa. . . there’s already a huge wait time and it’s only minutes after opening! I’m not waiting in that line and dd11 doesn’t want to go on it either.

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0842.jpg

We agree where to meet in an hour (as I laugh) and dh gets in line with the other kids. Dd11 and I go off to ride MIB. It was walk on with our fotl and we had a blast. Can’t remember scores for this ride, but I know it was nothing to note here. I was so busy trying to remember all the tips I had read about, I forgot to shoot!! What a goof. . .

After the ride, dd said she wasn’t feeling so well. We checked out the MIB gift shop for a few, bought some water and a snack ($5.15) and went to sit in the shade for a few. Dd still didn’t feel very good after a while, so we went to get a bottle of coke hoping that would help settle her stomach. She wanted to go to the Curious George area and maybe splash around a little, so we headed over. Uuuuummmmm, what the heck is that rope doing there blocking this whole section?? Into the Cartoon Store we went to ask about it and were told that area doesn’t open until later. I won’t even get into this, other than to say while I understand a little that this part of the park is not yet busy, we should be able to have use of the entire park when we want to. No rides were closed for refurb, it simply wasn’t open yet. I don’t recall any signs saying the park opens at 9:00, except for this section. . . . .

So forced to do something else, we looked around in the cartoon store and found my grandson the cutest little t-shirt! ($16.99 and sent to HRH. . . I love this feature).

(Pictures coming soon!!)

wwessing

06-23-2009, 09:41 PM

May 3, 2008
Saturday – The Final Day (besides traveling home that is)

*Continued*

By now it’s time to head back to Simpson’s to see if the rest of the family is finished (insert chuckle). We find a seat in the shade and wait. Actually, it wasn’t too long before they came off the ride. The wait time sign was pretty accurate, short by about 18 minutes. Dd15 doesn’t feel so well now. She apparently didn’t take the motion sickness medication I had given to her that morning. Oops, left it lying on the table. . . . . Ok, but no whining allowed now. The real story is she didn’t want to take it because she got upset with me over something like socks or shoes. . .yeah, that was it. . . she wanted to wear cheap old worn down flip flops she used at the pool for walking around the parks all day and we vetoed that choice and had her put on her walking shoes which we paid a crap load for just a couple weeks prior to vacation. I guess she thought she’d show me by not taking the medication. . . . . . (another big sigh). So now we have 2 kids not feeling well, and one by her own design. If she would have told me she didn’t take the pill, I would have given her another I had in my baggallini and she wouldn’t now be feeling motion sick. She stopped being angry about 10 minutes after she put her shoes on, but didn’t want to admit she left the pill on the table. Insert image of me pulling on my hair imagining myself shaking her until her brain kicks in. Instead, we told dd’s 15 & 11 they could sit outside MIB while we went through. They agreed and we headed back over, left them in some shade and walked on again with our beautiful, wonderful and amazing fotl pass. We had tons of fun and were back with the sickies in a snap. We walked our way toward the front gates, riding a couple things here and there (sickies excluded) so we could go over the Islands. Dh stopped for a Powerade ($3.00).

On the way to Islands, Dh wants to go into Hard Rock Café to look at the merchandise. We purchase a couple of t-shirts as gifts ($20.24 each after AAA discount and have them sent to our hotel).

It’s getting busy now, being a Saturday and all, and we hustle to Islands of Adventure, through the gates without much wait and start exploring. Seuss Land is amazing. I know you have all heard that before, but it’s one of those things that you just have to see for yourself. We took some random pics here and there, stopped for some Goose Juice and some Moose Juice ($8.08 for 2 smalls) and continue exploring. Rode some rides and kids are getting hungry, except for Dd15 who is still complaining about feeling sick and her sunburn is bothering her. We go to The Enchanted Oak for lunch.

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0860.jpg
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0861.jpg

This is a way cool place, and cafeteria style. I really wanted to go to Mythos, but no one else did at that moment and we had really splurged at Emeril’s. So, cafeteria style it was for lunch, which I didn’t mind so much. We got the chicken & rib platter, smoked chicken platter and enchanted hamburger platter, plus an extra ear of corn and a refill on our drink. We used our AAA card for a discount ($3.37) which made our total $32.35. We found a table and sat.

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0863.jpg
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0865.jpg
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0866.jpg
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0868.jpg

Kids seemed to be withering in this hot, Florida sun and I suppose it was good that vacation is coming to a close.

Random pics. . .

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0859.jpg
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0858.jpg

wwessing

06-23-2009, 09:47 PM

May 3, 2008
Saturday – The Final Day (besides traveling home that is)

*Continued*

After lunch, we wander and ride a bit. Dh wants a churro, so stops for one ($3.19) and a refill on the drink (.74). We go to the Mulberry Street Store to pick up another t-shirt for Alex aka Bubby my grandson and find something really cute, of course. It was $15.95 on the rack and after AAA discount and tax the total was $15.29. DH wants to go into the Trading Company and finds a shirt for himself. I believe it was the first for him and with the lovely AAA discount, we are out of there for $18.16.

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0876.jpg
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0875.jpg
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0874.jpg
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0871.jpg

You guys know what this is. . . .
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0870.jpg

We are still wandering and riding, but dd11 has gotten her shorts all wet is getting a rash from the heat and the wet and dh stops and picks her up some cool sponge bob shorts at Port Provisions ($9.58 with AAA). By this time, it’s around 5:00, dd15 can’t take it anymore and dh wants to spend more time.

The other two want to stay with their dad, so I take dd15 and we head back to HRH for a rest before going to dinner at Bubba Gumps.

Dh and dd’s had a lot of fun. Rode a lot more and stopped for a lemon slush and soda refill ($4.56) and also picked up 3 Thing t-shirts and Cats, Hats and Things. They got red 1, 2 & 3 shirts. Total for all 3 was $57.37 after AAA discount. Dh had also picked up a few other t-shirts. Some for the girls and maybe himself, for a total of $79.37 after, of course, AAA discount of 10%.

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0895.jpg
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0894.jpg
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0891.jpg
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0886.jpg
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0885.jpg
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0884.jpg

The Spidey in the foreground of this picture is a live person. Dh and the girls thought it was a manequin, like the other one, but then he moved! They said it was waaaay cool!
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0883.jpg

Here's another with live Spidey in a different position and the girls just below him
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0882.jpg

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0881.jpg
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0880.jpg
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0879.jpg
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0878.jpg

After dh and girls get back, they rest for a few, clean up and we are back on the boat to City Walk. We absolutely loved that boat ride. The walk was very nice, the path beautiful and interesting, but we just loved, loved, and loved the water taxis. They just seemed to start, and end the day exactly right.

Once on City Walk, we realize it is PACKED! There were groups wandering around and all the restaurants were so busy. We HAD to go to Bubba Gumps because of the gift cards I had purchased prior to vacation. There are no BG’s where we live and we would have wasted $100 if we hadn’t gone that night. So, we have no choice but to suck it up, put our name on the list and wait for 90 minutes. Dh went to get a drink and dd’s and I found some much coveted bench space just as another family was called to be seated. We realized that there were LOTS of younger kids. Still not sure what type of group they were, but there were over 100 of them, all waiting for BG’s seating. . . yikes!!! If we would have had a choice, at that point we would have gone elsewhere. We knew it was going to be crazy with all those kids. Anyway, it was after 9:00 before we were seated and, yup, all those loud, giggling, messy children were seated all over the restaurant. Had the servers running like crazy because basically they all were seated at once. We ordered our drinks after waiting like 10 minutes without anyone acknowledging we were there. Finally they arrive and we are ready with our order. Not letting our very harried waitress get away again. By this point, dh is starving and grumpy, as were the kids. The girls all ordered Kid’s Shrimp ($5.29 each), I ordered Bourbon Mahi Mahi ($17.75) and dh ordered the rest of the menu . . . . . ok, seriously he ordered Run Across America ($13.99) and some garlic peel and eat shrimp ($23.98) that was supposed to be an appetizer for the family. I also ordered a drink called Pearadise ($7.95) and the others soda ($2.65 each).

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0898.jpg
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0897.jpg

Dh didn’t get his shrimp until the other entrée’s were served, which made him very unhappy since he requested before. Salads were late and right before entrée’s . . . basically the kitchen, and servers, were a mess due to that giant group that came in right before us. Halfway through our meal, they really started leaving and the kitchen and staff seemed to get back on track. Nevertheless, it was too late for our service to be what we expected. The food was ok, not what we had been expecting either, but we were very hungry and tired by this time and just wanted to eat and relax. The bill was $97.44 before tip. I don’t know what dh tipped, but I know it wasn’t one of his famous 25% tips. The server, which overwhelmed, was not friendly or patient. She did not listen to, or meet our requests, which weren’t many considering. Dinner was dumped on our table and a manager came by once to ask about drink refills. No apology from anyone for the poor showing and I’m guessing dh left around 12 – 15% tip. I probably would not have been that generous. A simple apology for all the problems would have gone a very long way toward improving our service. Anyway, we realize this was an unusual event, though dh thinks that they probably encounter large groups all the time and should be prepared, considering that there are lots of groups that go to the parks. It makes sense they would go to the restaurants as well. We still love Bubba Gump Shrimp Co and will return.

(I've got food porn for this section)

wwessing

06-23-2009, 09:50 PM

May 3, 2008
Saturday – The Final Day (besides traveling home that is)

* continued - one more time*

We walked around City Walk, did a little shopping for a couple last minute items we wanted for our mother’s. The Endangered Species shop has some very nice merchandise. We found some things there which were surprisingly reasonably priced. . . and other things that were waaaaayyyy expensive.

Dh wanted a cinnabon to take back to HRH with him, so we stopped in there and he picked up a Pecanbon to go ($3.73 with AAA disc.) He also picked up a couple drinks and the girls wanted a couple churro’s as well ($9.12). While they were sitting and munching their snack, they all noticed a kiosk where they were doing henna tattoos and hair wraps.

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0904.jpg
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0909.jpg
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0899.jpg

Dd’s 9 & 11 both wanted their hair wrapped and dd15 wanted a tattoo. . . . geez, how did I know that was coming? Dh told them they could, so we got right in as the wrap lady was just finishing up with her customer. Dd 9 picked her colors and a couple beads and off she went. It was interesting to watch, but took forever.

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0908.jpg
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0905.jpg
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0901.jpg
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0900.jpg

My girls have long hair and they charge by the inch. Dd9 had 13 inches wrapped and dd11 had 14. While dd 11 was getting her wrap, dd15 got her henna tattoo on her ankle.

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0914.jpg

It was cute, but ended up not lasting as long as they said it should.

Anyway, they all loved it, so that’s what matters, right. . . .total was $66.62 and I think dh tipped, but not sure.

We watched a live band or two while waiting for hair wraps, and that was enjoyable.

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0902.jpg
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii3/wwessing/100_0903.jpg

It’s after midnight and definitely time to go back to HRH for our final night. The water taxi line was the longest we had seen it, but we got right on the next boat to HRH and headed back. Girls dragged themselves to the room and grudgingly changed into pj’s. Turn down was completed, so we were able to get settled in. No bookkeeping for me that night, and it’s lights out.

Tomorrow – departure day and breakfast at The Kitchen.

macraven

06-23-2009, 09:59 PM

you know homie, my timer went off hours ago and i couldn't for the life of me remember why i set it..........:laughing:

then when i was making dinner, it came to me.

i am glad i found you here busy working on the trippie.....popcorn::

macraven

06-23-2009, 10:02 PM

wwessing

06-23-2009, 10:21 PM

good thing i waited around.....

yay.......more trippie and more pictures.....

i'll keep checking back later this evening....

did you do the breakfast buffet at the Kitchen?
i did and loved it.
i was stuffed in the late afternoon after i pigged out there.....

Your jumping the gun on me Mac. . . what. . . Christmas isn't soon enough to hear about Sunday, travel home day??????

Ok. . .ok. . .since you have been so faithful and not complained a bit (:rolleyes1), here's a teaser. . . .

Yep, we did the Kitchen for breakfast and loved it. The food was wonderful, the selection overwhelming, and the service perfect. Even the juice was very good . . . . and, in our experience, you don't find that very often. There were the cutest :cutie: little bottle of hot sauce (Tabasco) I've ever seen!! We totally pigged out, knowing we had a very, very long day ahead of us.

There was one not so good moment when we first got there. . . but more on that later.

macraven

06-23-2009, 10:33 PM

okey dokey....

i'll be patient and wait for the rest of your trippie.

that's what a nice homie i am..........:rolleyes1

wwessing

06-24-2009, 08:56 PM

I'm just going to finish this up. I don't have any travel home pics, other than the few I took of the girls playing around the fountain while waiting for dh to load up the luggage. I'll post those later.

Sunday, May 4

Our last morning here. We travel home today. If you remember from the beginning of this trippie, we drove straight through. We decided that was not going to happen on the return trip, as it was just too exhausting. We have no plans on where we will stop and no reservations (eeewww, the thought. . . . ), but we are going to enjoy our last minutes at HRH.

Up early, pack up, which doesn't take too long. Make sure I have all the little bottles of goodies to take back to our food pantry (they are always looking for those items to put with people's food orders), and dh calls for our luggage to go down. :sad2:

After the luggage has been picked up, we go down to the Kitchen for breakfast. We had a free breakfast for each of us coming, so that was a bright spot in the day. Sorry, but I don't know how much the breakfast buffet is there, however I do know it is not inexpensive. . . especially if you are not a big breakfast eater. It so happens that we all love breakfast, so are ready to chow, plus we know it's a looooonnng way home and fast food is pretty much going to be the only meals we have for the next 48.

We go to the Kitchen and enter from the patio. The hostess asks us if we went to sit inside or out, and I reply "inside". She is looking at dh and has this funny look on her face and said to me "well, I hope we aren't going to have a little dispute over where to sit" and I was like "huh?". She said "HE is shaking his head no to sitting inside". I turn to look at my husband, because it is certainly unlike him to want to sit outside, in the already blazing sun and sweat through breakfast. So, I turn to see why he wants to sit outside, and he's like "I didn't say anything. . .I want to sit inside." The hostess responded "I didn't make that up, sir, you were shaking your head NO, were you not?". He said No, I was not shaking my head no and she rolled her eyes.

Ok, at this point she has been more than rude and I'm pissed (oops, that will get censored). What I have not said previous to this, because it is not an issue for us, ever, is that my husband has something called Essential Tremors. His head tremors. Sometimes it kind of looks like palsy, but only not. . . clear as mud now?? Honestly, it didn't even dawn on me what she was saying, and I didn't even connect his tremors with her thinking he was purposely saying no. . . but let me say that when I did, I was no longer pissed about her rudeness. . . .I WAS FURIOUS!!!! First of all, it is clear that he isn't shaking his head no. . . you don't just stand there and shake your head continually for maybe 90 seconds when you are saying no. Second, even after he said he wasn't saying no, she insisted, and his head was still tremoring. My response to her was "Oh, you have mistakenly pointed out my husband's Essential Tremor issue, which, by the way, he has no control over, and made a big deal out of it with your ever-so-friendly and welcoming attitude. So perhaps you can seat us now before the OTHER half of the restaurant thinks my TREMORING husband is being obnoxious - and yes, we do want to go inside!" To her credit, she immediately realized how furious I was, turned fire red from hairline to neckline and apologized as she seated us. Dh was like, it's ok, really, we just want to get some breakfast now. I was still angry, though she did apologize, and maybe was having a bad day. It was not acceptable and I hope she learned from the experience. I won't go on any further with this, but I will say that the on-duty restaurant manager came to our table, checked on us and tried to comp us the meal. I explained that we already had the meal comped, and this was our final meal at HRH, and thanked him for the gesture. He apologized again for the "situation" and I knew that the hostess had felt so bad she went to her manager and explained what happened. Likely she was horrified and she did embarrass my dh. . . which is why I got very angry. BTW, he has since gone to a specialist and takes medication which is helpful. His neurologist told us that he has one of the most severe tremors, of his type, that he had ever seen and nothing would make it completely go away, but the meds should help. . .and they do. It is not going to progress like say Parkinsons, but the tremor looks like that. Dh is fine and healthy.

So, once seated and past the drama, we head to the food stations. OMG :eek: How do you pick??? There were so many lovely choices we didn't know where to start first. I tried to stay away from the heavy, bread type items so I could sample more, but I got sooooo stuffed, I still didn't get to taste half of what was there. I snagged the little bottle of Tabasco sauce. . .it was so cute I couldn't help it . . . and took it with me. I still have it. . . can't bear to use it. Maybe I'll take a pic and post it. . . . :confused3 Everyone LOVED the meal. . the food was excellent. . . the service was very good and I would recommend checking it out. I think we would go back, even if we had to pay full price for the breakfast buffet. It was the best breakfast we had during our entire trip.

After we were stuffed to the point that we needed rolled up to the parking area, we waddled our way up. Dh retrieved the van, got our luggage and the girls and I went to sit by the fountain and wait. I snapped a few pics, which I will post as soon as they upload :mad:

Then we left, sad, but tired and actually glad to be heading home, though dreading that long drive. Next trip, dd16 is going to get drugged, knocked out and tied up. . .but we are flying!!

I know we drove to Tennessee and stayed in some nasty truckers hotel. . .that's all I will say. Had some yucky fast food for dinner and again for breakfast and finally arrived home sweet home on Monday afternoon. It did take a couple days to reacclimate ourselves to "real life" and I know I was very grumpy for a few days. All those months of meticulous planning, all the money, all the anticipation. . . all gone. . . over. . . finite. I wasn't expecting the depression. . . seriously, you can laugh. . . but I think I was depressed for a few days. Then I pulled it together, got all our nearly 600 pictures printed off my digital, even put together a photo album for the kids to take to school. I limited it to 100 photos :rolleyes1 and we have some of the best memories of our lives. Definitely our favorite vacation ever and we will go back. We have since decided that we will wait a few years to return. We want to kids to have a different experience and think they will see things differently in a few years. Probably, more important, the current economy prevents us from spending that kind of money again. . .at least for another few years so that fits with our plan.

I debated with myself about sharing this information. . .but have decided to share that we spent $8,000 on this trip. I listed everywhere I could how much things cost, but I remember wishing that someone would flat out say what they spent on their vacation. We didn't HAVE to spend this much, but decided that we were not going on the cheap. I know many people go on a much, much smaller budget and have as much fun as we did. We really agreed that we were going to be able to do whatever we wanted and not have to tell our kids "no" all the time. We wanted to stay in nice places and go to all the parks we had on our list. We did all that. We didn't have to do things like go to Emeril's or rent a cabana at Aquatica. We didn't have to spend money on lot's of things that we did. . .but that is why we saved and worked our butts off (well, apparently dh is the only one who worked his butt off because mine is still extra large :lmao:). Advance planning, budgeting and saving allowed us to do what we did. Our vacation was long, we had to travel far and we did not skimp on any expenses. If our kids wanted the t-shirt, they got it. If they wanted to experience something they hadn't before, we were able to do that for them.

Dh plans to take them to Las Vegas and the Grand Canyon next, and we want to take a trip to the Colorados, if you will, because we ride ATV's/motorcycles and have heard about some wonderful riding opportunities there. He also wants to take our family on a cruise. So, it looks like maybe 3-4 more years before we get to go back to Orlando. We've got enough good times to remember to hold us over I think.

Some things we would do differently would be to fly, for sure! We will probably not return to Busch Gardens on our next trip, but spend two days at Aquatica, though we loved BG and will return again, just not next time. We probably wouldn't stay for 10 days because we would eliminate so much traveling time by flying. Save ourselves 3 nights of hotels and 3 days of car rental. We will probably try one of the other on-site hotels next time and we won't stay at Nickelodeon again. Not that we didn't enjoy it, because we did. The girls loved it and had a great time. Our kids were almost too old for it last year, and will definitely have outgrown it in a few years time. We feel like maybe we "wasted" money on staying there because we went off-site every day. So we would just find a nice place with an awesome swimming pool and stay there during the days we did SeaWorld, Aquatica and next time we will definitely do swim with the dolphins at Discovery Cove. We would also probably not plan any other parks during the days we stay on-site at Universal. Basically, our schedule would work differently than this time.

I want to recommend HRH for anyone with children with special needs. This is one area where I did not provide any detail, but trust me when I say that HRH more that met our needs and without their help, I'm not so sure things would have gone as smoothly as they did. I also want to give Nickelodeon Hotel props because they were wonderful as well. Since our stay there was only 3 nights, as opposed to 6 at HRH, we probably didn't need as many accommodations, but both places worked with us wonderfully and for many months in advance. While I laid out my husband's plans for traveling with our kids, there's no way to know for sure if those trips are possible because of one of our children's special needs. How those evolve and change as she grows older, we will have to see. Unless we can find places willing to accommodate kids with special needs as we did in Orlando, we will likely not be able to make those trips. For those of you who know what I'm talking about. . . well, you understand where I'm coming from.

We thank God every day for our special child(ren) and for our ability to travel a bit and have adventures like we did last Spring.

Thanks to all you homies who helped along the way and I hope that I can pay it forward with this trippie.

wwessing

06-29-2009, 12:05 PM

Ok, all pictures have been added and my trippie is complete!!! Hope lots of folks enjoy it and find it helpful. Always available to answer questions.

:hippie:

EPRV We love Disney

07-01-2009, 10:08 PM

Awesome trippie!! Thanks so much for sharing all of your experiences. And, thanks for the info on your cost. No matter how much (or how little) you spend, it's the enjoyment you get at the time that is important. Those memories are priceless.

I enjoyed reading about your trip very much.
Thanks!! E

wwessing

07-05-2009, 06:58 PM

I am glad you enjoyed my report. It makes the hours and hours and hours put into the trippie worth it.

We could have spent double what we did, or probably cut the cost in half as well, but you are right that it isn't about the money. . . the memories we have and the time we shared is priceless.

Fortunately, that trip didn't seem to spoil our kids for the much more modest vacations we have taken this year and, probably for the next 3 years. They still enjoy camping a great deal and even day trips to places like Six Flags are exciting for them. Honestly, I have to admit that HRH spoiled me for anywhere else. I can't help but compare now. It so totally irritates DH that I do, but I just can't help it. My expectations have changed and there's no going back. . . . :confused3 What can I do. . . . . :rolleyes1

Worfiedoodles

07-05-2009, 08:25 PM

I really enjoyed your entire TR, thank you so much for taking the time and including all the detail, it really came alive and was a joy to read!

Maria :upsidedow

wwessing

07-07-2009, 10:08 AM

Thank you for the compliment. I'm glad you enjoyed it. . .makes creating it worthwhile! Thank YOU for taking the time to get through the entire report.

scrabblegirl

07-10-2009, 01:57 AM

Thanks for writing this! I wish I had recorded my last trip for future reference. Hopefully this will help you preserve the great memories!

DaddyDon

07-10-2009, 03:38 PM

Great report!...Wow i loved every page of it!:worship::worship::worship::worship:

wwessing

07-17-2009, 10:42 AM

Thank you. I'm so happy you enjoyed my report!! It's nice to know folks are reading.

wwessing

08-06-2009, 09:33 PM

:rolleyes1

nmartin

08-08-2009, 12:20 PM

I just loved your TR. I felt like I was there experiencing everything that you and your family did. I laughed out loud several times, you are just so funny but handled every situation so well. I wish I could be more like you when these sort of situations arise. Your information was wonderful and has helped me in preparing for our first trip to US.

Thanks for taking the time to post this,
from one over planner/organizer to another

wwessing

08-10-2009, 10:31 PM

So glad you enjoyed, and laughed out loud. I don't know how well I handled some situations. . . prolly didn't feel like I was doing so well at the time, and some things are definitely, at least now, laugh out loud funny. But thanks for reading and the compliments. I very much want folks to enjoy the read, be entertained and pick up some tips on the way.

psac

08-14-2009, 05:03 PM

Thanks for the post. The messages here are much fewer than on the WDW side, so for planning for our upcomming trip, a detailed post like this really helps. Thanks!!!

wwessing

08-14-2009, 05:34 PM

I'm glad you were able to use the trip report for planning your own trip.

Just remember to ask any questions you have and the wonderful folks on this side of the boards will be certain to assist you.

My trippie gives you a place to start, I think, but your agenda will likely look different than mine did, so use the resources here to plan the best trip ever. It's what I did and we had the best vacation ever. When we went with all 6 of our kids back in 2004, I had no idea I should have planned way better than I did. I basically made reservations, bought tickets and off we went. We had a great time, don't get me wrong, and our kids absolutely loved it. They have wonderful memories for their lifetime. I, however, HATED the Disney parks. They were too crowded, too expensive, the lines were too long, the stroller gestapo got on my LAST nerve and by 1:30 in the afternoons, the kids were begging to return to our off-site hotel. We were probably THOSE people who refused to leave with their over-tired, hot, whining kids and demanded that they have fun and stop being babies. . . .you know that drill, right? So I've since discovered that some of that likely was I didn't know what I was doing. If I had only known then what I know now. . . . . :confused3. DH says next time we will go back and visit a Disney park or two and you can bet I'll be on the other side of the boards doing my homework.

macraven

08-14-2009, 08:16 PM

:rolleyes1

i bet that was for me......:teeth:

wwessing

08-15-2009, 10:43 PM

i bet that was for me......:teeth:

. . . . actually, it was a shameless bump :flower3:

macraven

08-16-2009, 01:17 AM

ok, i was close.

circelli

08-24-2009, 09:36 AM

Thanks for all of your "important" info. It helps me get in the planning mode for our trip at the end of Septmber.......not that I haven't been planning already!!!:rotfl2:

wwessing

08-24-2009, 09:56 PM

circelli

08-27-2009, 03:19 PM

Glad I *motivated* you :goodvibes

You've probably been planning for some time now. . . then you come across the trip report from some freaky obsessive planner! I've said it before and I'll probably say it alot more. . . I believe our vacation was as wonderful as it was because our homework was done. . . I think I got an A+ too!

Enjoy your upcoming trip!

As long as you & your family had FUN....that's all that matters!!!:thumbsup2
It was a blast reading you TR;)

JDBlair

08-29-2009, 12:19 AM

Glad I *motivated* you :goodvibes

You've probably been planning for some time now. . . then you come across the trip report from some freaky obsessive planner! I've said it before and I'll probably say it alot more. . . I believe our vacation was as wonderful as it was because our homework was done. . . I think I got an A+ too!

Enjoy your upcoming trip!

Thank you for sharing your TR and all the details, I greatly appreciated it. I do have a question for you about the AAA discounts you received. We are visiting USO and IOA for 2 days in October and I'm curious how you knew which places offered the AAA discount?

wwessing

09-12-2009, 04:47 PM

I knew about the discounts from a variety of sources. The AAA website itself has a wealth of information. Also, I read everything I could on these boards. In addition, whenever I called for reservations or went to a restaurant, I simply asked.

Sorry for the delay in responding. We've been camping and playing with our ATV's!!

Hope this helps!!

wwessing

10-14-2009, 10:28 AM

shameless bump :flower3:

WyldLynx

10-27-2009, 02:09 AM

Thank you sooooooooo much for the detailed report I have so enjoyed reading every bit. It has been very helpful for me who is planning our first trip ever to Orlando. We are going to drive too but we are only in Tennessee so it won't be quite a long and we are driving when the kids are most likely to sleep most of the way both down and back. But U have so started one of many lists to come...LOL

wwessing

10-30-2009, 10:50 PM

wwessing

12-03-2009, 07:46 PM

:bday: to me

wwessing

01-17-2010, 10:40 AM

shameless Happy New Year bump:flower3:

wwessing

01-31-2010, 12:00 PM

Looks like we won't be getting back for more of this fun until 2012. :guilty::sick::headache:

Can't go this year, going to Las Vegas, Hollywood and Grand Canyon next year, so it's 2012 before we can MAYBE go back says DH. . .

So, I'll have to content myself with my wonderful memories of this trip. Questions anyone??? Give a sista a chance to go "oh, yeah. . .I remember that day".

:)

wwessing

03-01-2010, 10:45 AM

Just got word over this weekend that we are on for another Uni trip in 2011. We were planning to go to Vegas, Grand Canyone, etc. but our special needs daughter wants nothing to do with it. Since we can't go without her, looks like we will be returning to Hard Rock and Universal (among other things) as this is the only vacation she will consider.

W O O H O O!!!

While I was looking forward to the trip West, I do get a working trip to Vegas this July without my family. Ok, so that might be some fun, I'll be attending a conference and won't have my family with me. (sigh) the sacrifices we must make :littleangel:

So, planning has begun and I am about 6 months behind if I use our 2008 trip as a guide. I didn't know anything then, so planning this time should be simpler and 12 months more than adequate (that's half the fun). Suppose I'll keep this report going rather than starting a new one, just change the title up a bit.

Stay tuned. . . I plan to complete updates as I go along. Already have some gripes about how costs have increased just since spring, 2008!!

nmartin

03-07-2010, 08:44 PM

I read your last trip report and loved it. Looking forward to hear about your new trip. We are planning our first trip to Hard Rock this Aug. Not much to plan though! I am one of those people that love planning trips!

wwessing

03-10-2010, 12:47 PM

Just found out that our district's spring break for 2011 is the week of March 14th. While I'm not certain the weather will be all that warm in Orlando, it will hopefully be better than in central Illinois!

Easter in 2011 is not until April 24th so we should be good on rates . . . that was my biggest worry. . . so here's a big W O O H O O ! ! ! :cool1:

Preliminary research looks like we are going to stay at one of the Sea World resorts for the first half, then move to HRH for a few days. Those dumb Universal ticket prices have gone up so much since they did away with the 7 day deal. I wrote Universal and said BRING IT BACK!! They had that promotion for 3 years and told me that they had lots of requests for different ticketing options. Ok, great, offer more ticket options but BRING BACK THE 7 DAY PASS FOR $99. When we went in Spring 08, they were like $85, but $99 would still be excellent. Looks like we will have to go with the 4 day tickets, though we really wanted more days.

Bush parks, at least in the Orlando area, have a great promotion right now. If you stay in one of their resorts, you get your choice of unlimited entry into two parks for the number of people in your party. For my family, if we stay at one of their resorts, we would have unlimited access to Sea World and Aquatica (our choices) for the number of days we are at the resort. The least expensive resort is still 4 diamonds, like HRH, and looks like it is very nice. I'll have to do more research and see what opinions are. . . haven't gotten that far yet.

So, right now in our prelim stages, we are looking at leaving on March 9th, after the kids get out of school and traveling all night again (recall special needs dd). We would then only have to take the kids out of school for 2 days and still have a good number of days for our trip. Our return drive is broken into two days, but we handled the straight through drive there ok. If DH would only let me drive a little more, he could sleep for a few hours, which was the plan in 08. He kept saying "I'm fine" so he ended up driving most of the time. Silly man. . .

Stay tuned. . . .

renee9558

03-26-2010, 10:00 PM

I've read your TR all afternoon. Very impressed. Without having to go back and add everything up. How much did you budget for the trip? Do you allow so much for food daily? I'll be at Universal/Sea World/and maybe a day at Aquatica, DH/DS will fish on Wed. so my DD13/I will be on our own. We will vacay 6 days. I'm just curious what your tenative budget looked like. Thank you the report it jUST what I needed!

wwessing

03-27-2010, 09:32 AM

I don't mind sharing our budget at all. As a matter of fact, I think I put the total somewhere in the trippie. . but our budget was $8,000 and that's about what we spent.

Since it's obvious I'm totally obsessed with planning details. . . actually we need to plan to an extreme level of detail to help our dd17 prepare for travel, we had a spreadsheet that delineated the date, where we would be that day and where we had planned to eat. Once we determined the places we wanted to eat, I researched menu's and prices so we could be certain there was something on the menu dd17 would eat and the ability to estimate how much each meal might cost. From that we determined the food budget for the entire trip. I'm looking at my budget spreadsheet for that trip . . . . we estimated about $200 per day and $2,000 for the trip. I even figured that we would have 465 individual meals during the trip . . . . I'm such a geek. I did quite a bit of recordkeeping during the trip. We saved all receipts and I logged them at the end of each day. I knew we had plenty in our budget to accommodate everything we wanted to do, but I kept close track day by day. It didn't take that much time and dh wanted to know where we were every day as far as our budget. For a little bit of work at the end of each day, it allowed us to do some things we hadn't planned on, such as dining at Emeril's. Since we knew exactly where we stood within the food budget, we knew we could afford to take our family there. When we went shopping, dh knew exactly where he was with that budget, and allowed the kids to shop accordingly.

While I know there are some folks who don't have to worry about such things, we do not have that luxury. We did not spend a penny we hadn't saved and anything we charged, we knew we had the funds to immediately pay it off once we returned home.

I think somewhere in my trip report are some details about my "book". I used a 3 ring binder and dividers to keep track of everything. I had prepared expense tracking sheets ahead of time, so it was simple to keep tabs. My guess is dh came home a little under budget, actually. We even estimated fuel expenses, since we were driving. We knew approximately how many miles we would be driving; estimated fuel mileage of the van we rented; and estimated how much gas would be per gallon. Voila. . . . more geeky budget sheets. We had a very, very detailed budget. It even included laundry expenses, which were really minimal, but dh didn't want any surprises. Thanks to our extensive planning, there were really no financial surprises and things that did come up were beyond our control and had nothing to do with our planning.

Our budget had a line for van rental, hotel expenses, park tickets, food, fuel, parking, animal feeding, snacks/drinks at parks, go-karting, cabana at aquatica and a sizeable misc. budget just in case I missed something. The actual dollars budgeted was $8,352.70, to be exact. Some of these expenses we paid ahead of time such as tickets, one night hotel on each reservation and some gift cards for a couple of the restaurants we would visit.

I really tried to include all the prices that I could, with the exception I think of how much each t-shirt or souvenier cost, though I did include some totals when shopping. Those little things like parking, feeding animals, snacks, drinks, etc really sneak up on you if you don't plan and have a budget. People always come back from vacation and complain about how much they spent or overspent and usually they didn't include the details, just the obvious expenses. With a little thought and planning, you can avoid the overspending and having huge credit card balances when you get home. That can ruin a vacation faster than anything, in my opinion. I know there are those on these boards who will disagree with the budgeting and keeping every receipt and all the recordkeeping, and that is fine for those who don't need to worry about it. If you don't have to be concerned, then all this isn't for you. My trippie was for everyone, but the financial details are for those who aren't fortunate enough to be able to travel with unrestricted funding. The way we handled our finances worked beautifully for us and really, truly kept everything on track.

As I plan for our upcoming 2011 trip, we will use the same techniques we did in 2008, and I believe I've already complained about the increased cost of everything : ) I saved all the documents from 2008 on my computer, so I don't have to reinvent the wheel, if you will. I'll just adjust everything to this trip, get another binder and off we go :goodvibes

Hope this has helped with your planning. If you are traveling with kids, you really can't overplan in my opinion. You know your family, you needs and what you want to experience. Keep gathering information and planning. As long as you can be flexible with things that may change between your planning and your actual trip, you should have a great time.

renee9558

03-27-2010, 02:14 PM

Thank you soo much for your valuable input!!

wwessing

03-28-2010, 01:12 PM

Thought I would update a bit. Because so much of my research has been done with our 2008 trip and we have already established our goals for 2011, I've put this planning on hold just a while.

We are in the process of refinancing our home; ordering a new hauler for our camping trips (we ride ATV's and dirt bikes); getting braces for dd's 13 & 17 and remodeling 2 of our bathrooms. I've got a business trip to Las Vegas in July which I am planning for (taking dh with me :love:) and a 9 day camping/riding trip coming up in June. So, because of all these other things going on, I've sorta put the 2011 trip planning on hold for a few weeks until all these other things are under control. Plus, hotel and resort rates aren't published for March 2011 just yet and the manager at HRH who was so wonderful in 2008 has been off work for an extended period. I don't really want to work with anyone else, so I'm waiting for their return to commence any HRH planning.

I can share some of my other trip info, though. For my business trip to Las Vegas, I'm attending a user group conference. My dh can attend with me for an additional fee, which we have to pay and his flight. Paying an additional fee for him to attend will include him in everything except for the actual sessions. Since he's not in the same industry I am, he doesn't care about those sessions, but he can attend the cocktail dinner the night before everything kicks off and have all the meals with me. Considering we are staying at the Wynn, it's a great deal for us and an opportunity to get away together for a few days. We will only be gone 4 days and some of that time I'll be attending sessions, but we would never stay at the Wynn on our own. So, I've been looking at flights, which are costly to say the least. Fortunately, my flight is a business expense, so we only have pay for one airfare. . . good thing :scared1: Not too much planning to do, though, since it is a business trip and I do have obligations. We will have one night to figure out where to have dinner on our own and a couple lunches as well. Not looking to spend a bunch of money, so I am doing some research to see what is available within walking distance since we aren't renting a care. Really, though, there is excellent public transportation available in Vegas, so that's not a concern, just time restraints mostly. I've been using the great website called CHEAPO Vegas. Lots of great information and all with great humor.

Before that, though, is our main family vacation for 2010. We would like to take a couple longer weekend getaways, but it will depend on finances of course. So we are planning a 9 day camping trip in June. Dh bought himself a new quad over the winter and sold one of his motorcycles. Now we all have 4 wheelers and a couple bikes if someone wants to ride on two wheels. Our current hauler is 17 feet, but it's not near large enough to haul all our toys. We had to take tires off the smallest quads to fit them in the back of our truck and the hauler was, literally, packed nearly to the ceiling. It was a nightmare to load and unload. It took at least a couple hours to unload and set up the hauler as a camper. The park we camp at is about 4 hours from our home, so not a bad drive at all, but when you don't leave until 3 or 4 pm, it's dark and late and everyone is hungry and the kids don't want to help unload so they whine and our first night is never much fun. I can't get a fire built and hot dogs cooked fast enough and dh can't get the hauler converted and beds set up quick enough. . . . so, we decided we would bite the bullet and order a new hauler. This one is going to be 24 ft. by 8.5 ft vs our current hauler which is 17 ft by 7 ft. Quite a bit more room and it will hold all our "toys" plus all our camping equipment with no problem. At least that is what dh tells me. We have been searching for a hauler for months. Dh pores over every publication that sells then. We had hoped to find a very nice used hauler, but they just aren't available. When you do find one, they are too pricey for used, but at least we know they hold their vaule well so when/if we ever sell either of ours, we will get our money back. So we have finally found the make and model of hauler we like. It's not one of those expensive things, but certainly not bottom of the line either. Fits our family fine. . . kinda middle of the road. Not cheap but not over the top. Dh and I have spent months planning exactly what we want and finally, we are within a couple of weeks of ordering it. I had to get dh to compromise of some things because he wanted to go ahead and get everything we ever wanted installed right now. Granted, that would be nice, but not affordable. So, we compromised and spent a little extra to get the things we both felt were the most important. Don't ya love it when a plan comes together. Once we get the hauler, we still have to install the flooring. . . manufacturer wants way too much money and it's fairly easy to do, so we saved a few hundred and will put in some sweat equity. Ok, so seriously. . . I'm not going to be doing it. Dh and my nephew and son-in-law will be laying the floor. We have, however, designed a design for the back door that lays down into a ramp. It's going to be way cool if I do say so myself. Floor is going to be black and white checkered. . what else would a NASCAR fan install, right?? Ramp door is going to be tiled in black and white as well, but has a specific design for when it is laid down. We are also going to install our own work bench, tool boxes and cabinetry. All those things are very, very expensive to have built in by the manufacturer as well, so we've already purchased cabinets and I bought dh a big craftsman tool box last year. We've spent hours, at this point, determining where things are going to be installed, the dimensions, etc. It's really sorta like building a house, only on a mini scale. Last week we found a sale on some other items we needed. . . or so we thought we needed and probably overspent. Dh picked up a couple new ez up canopies and a new bed for us. We have one of those queen size double stacked air mattress so it's not like getting up off the floor when sleeping on it, but he found a bed that is completely up off the floor. It folds up like one of the canopies, so it is a queen bed air mattress on a frame, completely off the floor and we will see how it works out. The girls were excited because that means they get our very nice double stacked queen mattress for their own. I hope I like this new one he bought. Dh also picked up some very nice molded plastic drawers. . .like a dresser. We are trying to keep everything as light weight as possible for easier towing. He can pick up the drawers and store them on the workbench when the hauler is not being used as a camper. When it is, we will all have drawer space for our things.

Ok, so enough detail to bore you to death yet??? Dh says I need to come help him with something, so signing off for now.

wwessing

04-02-2010, 11:17 AM

So I heard back from the manager at HRH, and all is set. All I have to do is make my reservations, and they will be certain that we have the same room we had in 2008. They SO TOTALLY ROCK!!

We have been talking about dining as well. Keep in mind that we have to plan as many details as far ahead as possible for dd17 to be able to process and deal with being away from home and her routine. So, having said that, we went back over the meal planner from 2008 and chose many of the same places. Most she remembered and is excited to return to. Since she knows she can enjoy something off their menu (much to our amazement. . .she NEVER gets tired of grilled chicken salad) and chose a few new places, but I will have to be certain I can get those menus over the next couple months. We will have to look over them to be sure they have something she can recognize and accept.

Last time we didn't go to Mythos because I was worried about their menu. I'm going to look it over again (think I can get it online) and if they don't have something she is comfortable with, I think I will call and ask if they will accommodate her. The rest of us really, really want to dine there. She did fine at Emeril's before and we hadn't even planned for it ahead of time. She worried about it for a couple hours during the day before we went, but she didn't freak out or refuse to go, and once there, she enjoyed the experience. It was so wonderful to see her laugh and smile in a situation that was completely "unprepared". Actually, we had a hard time getting her to return to the hotel after the meal, which late for us anyway, and then a walk around CityWalk. She didn't want to go back she was so jazzed up from her big night that it was like midnight before we could go back to HRH.

As usual, I digress. . .but I wanted to put up what we had decided so far. . . just in case anyone really cares. Most of the places we went last time, so have a good idea of the cost and the few places we weren't super happy with won't be getting a return visit. So far we have decided on IHOP (yeah, I know, big deal right? but we don't get there hardly ever and the kids love it), Joe's Crab Shack (none in our area), Sweet Tomatoes (same thing, none in our area), Lone Star (or another steak house. . living in IL we get great steak whenever we want, but we had a really good meal there last time which was reasonably priced and everyone enjoyed) Emerils, Margaritaville, Hard Rock Cafe, and NBA City (all on CityWalk), Mythos (IOA) Thunder Falls Terrace (IOA) Mama Della's (PBH) and whatever restaurant is in WWoHP. We will also go to Sharks's Grill (SeaWorld), The Kitchen (HRH - for breakfast buffet. . yyuuummmmm) Lombard's Seafood Grille and Richter's Burger Co (both in Studios). We will be at Aquatica two days and renting a cabana on both. Their cabana's are really nice and last time we ordered from a menu, specified what time we wanted the food delivered and it was good. We will do that again on both days. We will eat another day at SeaWorld, but have left that open to "family choice". . .which means we have to at least go somewhere dd17 can get chicken strips and fries, which is pretty much everywhere. Since we are planning to stay at Residence Inn SeaWorld International Center for several days on the front side of our vacation, we will take advantage of the breakfast included in the hotel price/package. From my research so far, it appears that they have a "full American" breakfast every morning along with the usual "continental" breakfast. This works for dd17 as well because she will want cereal with milk every morning, which is always readily available at those type of breakfasts (God help us if they don't have Fruit Loops or Fruity Pebbles :scared1:) If we get tired of that fare after a few days, we will find something outside the hotel. I've budgeted for that circumstance as well. We will need to eat at Magic Kingdom (under much duress have I agreed to go there) but I have no idea what is available, if we need to make ressies and I am being very passive/aggressive by not researching this when I know exactly where to go to get all the information I could ever need or want about any Disney park. I will eventually. . .I just have to get past my HUGE reluctance and objection to ever stepping foot in any Disney park again (so I've carefully avoided stating MY PERSONAL OPINION about this issue on any forum here ever. I will continue to keep that opinion to myself because it is a lose/lose situation if I were to try to explain why I feel the way I do. I'm not stepping in that steamy pile for anything. . . ) So, our Magic Kingdom day is completely unplanned, other than I know we will be visiting on a Monday and I know that Disney takes more preparation than any other park in the entire world and that's the one I have been working on the least (ok, how about none, still in denial). I'll get there. . . .

So far we've got this. . . we will be leaving our home (central Illinois) on Wednesday, Tuesday March 15th, 2011 after the kids get out of school. We will drive straight through (dh and I take 4 hour shifts more or less) so each of us can get some sleep. We will stop for supper somewhere in northern Kentucky, just over the IL/KY border then only gas stops until we get to IHOP in Gainesville, FL. This way, same as before, kids can sleep through much of that drive.

After breakfast, we will finish the drive to Orlando and hopefully check in early at Residence Inn SeaWorld to take advantage of the "tickets for length of your stay" deal. I need to find out yet if it that includes your check in and check out days, though I believe it does. Once we check in and get our tickets, we will be off to SeaWorld for a slow day. Dh and I will obviously not be fully rested, so we figure a few hours at SW, then an early evening at the hotel for swimming and a "family choice" dinner. Probably that means take-out from somewhere like TGI Fridays. The next two days (Thu & Fri) will be Aquatica days with Joe's Crab Shack and Sweet Tomatoes, respectively, on the planner.

Sat & Sun will be SW days, except if we have done everything by the end of the day Saturday or even after a couple of hours Sunday (might go in just to feed the dolphins at opening) then have a shopping/swimming day. Monday will be for Magic Kindom and will be an open to close day (so says DH who really, really, really wants to see the light parade. . whatever it's called). There's a whole very sad story behind this, which is the ONLY reason I am capitulating on the Disney park thing anyway.

Tues moves us to HRH (yes!) and the Universal parks for the remainder of our days, which will be four. Tickets have really gotten very expensive and we are hoping that they will come down in price before we go in a year, so I'm holding off on buying anything to see what will come along. Those days are pretty much unplanned, other than we have to know where we are going to eat (dd17 again) so for now we have only lunch and supper planned. I think we will go to Studios on Tues and Thurs and IOA on Wed and Fri. We are thinking NBA City on Tues, Emeril's on Wed, Margaritaville on Thur and Hard Rock Cafe on Friday. Not sure how everything else will fit in, but depending on reviews of whatever restaurant is in WWoHP we will probably want to go there. It's up in the air, then, for Thunder Falls, Lombard's and Richter's. Likely we will leave off Richter's. . . we can get really good burgers other places and Thunder Falls Terrace, while cafeteria style, has the cool view. Lombard's is full service, a nice sit-down break from the day and has good reviews. Breakfast for those days will either be in the hotel room, except for Saturday when we will dine at The Kitchen (did I say yum), or at one of the parks. I'd like to try PastaMore' for breakfast and maybe Croissant Moon Bakery. We ate at Boulangerie last time, has some muffins and such, and it was ok to good. Nothing spectacular, but good all the same. We shared items from there because they are so big. We purchase like 3 things then shared them (also with the birds and squirrels and chipmonks cuz that's waaay more fun than eating ourselves . . . in the world of my children).

Oh, one other thing. . . I don't think I've complained nearly enough about how much prices have increased. Renting a van is going to cost substantially more and so are Universal tickets. Our meal budget is $400 more than last time and hotel costs are up as well. I think our budget is going to be at least a grand more than last time :scared1: But I haven't told DH this yet and I'm going to blame it all on Disney :thumbsup2 so he can't complain.

Until next time. . . . . :hug: