natebenma
Beach Club Dee
- Joined
- Jul 19, 2008
Well, fear of the friendship boats being too full IS what prompted us to walk back to the BC that night, ending in a memorable entrance for one of our group.
3rd Annual We are "NEVER" going to Disney in the summer again"
- Thread starter natebenma
- Start date
Well, fear of the friendship boats being too full IS what prompted us to walk back to the BC that night, ending in a memorable entrance for one of our group.
natebenma
Beach Club Dee
- Joined
- Jul 19, 2008
Have you seen this picture occasionally posted by Robo in the Theme Park forum?
I found this shortly before the trip and I shared it with Nate. It was our little secret. Every time Tink was mentioned or shown, my son and I would look at each other and knowingly whisper or mouth Tinkerbells a dude! or Dude. This was the perfect humor for an 11 year old boy and was one of the few times during the trip that he would smile or laugh. Dont get me wrong- he had a great time on the trip, but if you have kids in the preteen/teen age bracket, you KWIM!
I found this shortly before the trip and I shared it with Nate. It was our little secret. Every time Tink was mentioned or shown, my son and I would look at each other and knowingly whisper or mouth Tinkerbells a dude! or Dude. This was the perfect humor for an 11 year old boy and was one of the few times during the trip that he would smile or laugh. Dont get me wrong- he had a great time on the trip, but if you have kids in the preteen/teen age bracket, you KWIM!
natebenma
Beach Club Dee
- Joined
- Jul 19, 2008
All in all, we had a fabulous trip! Great weather. Low crowds. Super room at the Beach Club. Great meals. Everyone was healthy. This trip was everything that the 2008 Fayecation wasnt. So great, in fact, that we didnt plan on returning to Disney right away since we couldn't imagine having a trip that was as perfect as this one.
We dont really intend to go to Disney EVERY year.
Plus, we still have Marks concerns about travelling to Florida in the summertime.
Will they or won't they go again???
Cue Suspense Music: Dun Dun Dunnnnnn
A Cliffhanger!!!
NOT!!!
You all already know we went again in July 2010.
Heres how it happened. (Coming Soon)
We dont really intend to go to Disney EVERY year.
Plus, we still have Marks concerns about travelling to Florida in the summertime.
Will they or won't they go again???
Cue Suspense Music: Dun Dun Dunnnnnn
A Cliffhanger!!!
NOT!!!
You all already know we went again in July 2010.
Heres how it happened. (Coming Soon)
natebenma
Beach Club Dee
- Joined
- Jul 19, 2008
MickManiac
Earning My Ears
- Joined
- Jun 13, 2010
Love your TR so far. We'll be going to BCV on Oct 9th for the first time and we can't wait !!
natebenma
Beach Club Dee
- Joined
- Jul 19, 2008
When we left off, my family had returned home from our second summer trip to Disney in two years.
Now, as a self-respecting, card-carrying member of the obsessive planners club, I of course have an outline of our travel plans for the next year or so. We like to take a winter vacation, during the boys February school break. It really helps to get through a New England winter knowing we have plans to go somewhere tropical. We also want to take the boys to Washington, DC. The boys are a great age for this, there is so much to see and do there. Ben loves history, so he would be blown away by the sights. We want to return to Atlantis in the Bahamas. To paraphrase one of Staceys RNR quotes Awesome Aquarium! Mega-WaterPark! Hellloooooo! And Mark and I will celebrate our 25th anniversary next summer. We really havent been away without the boys, so a getaway in early December 2011 or January 2012 would be great.
So here is how the plan looked:
February 2010 Barcelo Beach, Rivera Maya, Mexico (booked)
February 2011- Somewhere tropical.
April 2011- Washington DC
January 2012- 25th Anniversary Trip. Where??? St. John, USVI? St. Lucia? Hawaii?
February or April 2012- Atlantis
Theres no Disney in the two-year plan.
PINned into action by Disney
Then, at the beginning of January, in the heart of a New England winter, it appeared in my in-box. My first-ever PIN from Disney, offering 40% off on a stay at our beloved Beach Club. When Mark came home from work, I told him what I received. His response You shouldnt tell me about this if you dont intend on booking it! So we priced out the room.
Checked into airfare. The last two years, we used the same Delta Flights:
Arrival: 7 AM-10:30 AM, Boston to Orlando
Departure: 11:30 AM-2:30 PM, Orlando to Boston
We love the morning arrival flight, early is not a problem for us and this flight has us walking through the gates of MK around 12:30 or 1 on our arrival day. The return flight is not so great though. Since ME picks you up from your resort 3 hours before your flight out, the last morning consists of a quick, stressful breakfast and not much else.
So for our return home, we found a non-stop Airtran flight leaving Orlando at 2:30 and arriving in Boston around 5:30. And it was less expensive than the Delta morning flight. Booked!
Air-Trash Can
As the weeks and months went on, we received a number of e-mails from AirTran. Changes in our flight. At first, the changes were not significant. Orlando to Boston, 2 PM to 5 PM. Ok, thats fine. The next change, however was a killer. Our non-stop flight had been cancelled. We were now scheduled to fly from Orlando to ATLANTA, 12:30 to 2 PM, then Atlanta to Boston, 2:35 to 5:15. ICK!!! And only 30 minutes to change planes in Atlanta. The final blow came in June. Bye Bye to our leisurely morning and the Cape May breakfast we had scheduled for our last day. Our departure flight was now scheduled to leave Orlando at 11:30, arrive in Atlanta at 1:00, leave Atlanta at 2:30 (at least we now have 1 ½ hours to change planes) and arrive home in Boston at 5 PM.
Lesson learned here- we should have stuck with the Delta return flight, which left at the same time as our final AirTran itinerary, and arrived in Boston 2 ½ hours earlier!
180 days out- Regular Dining Plan
Im not sure who posted this originally, but my favorite quote from the DISBoards is:
I dont know what Im having for dinner tonight, but I know what I am having 180 days from now!
We booked our trip in the nick of time, about a week before the window opened to make our dining reservations. I checked park hours, made preliminary plans, and picked out where we should eat.
I decided to try the online reservation for the first time.
I got all of the restaurants within minutes of the times I wanted:
Saturday, arrival dinner- Captains Grille (first time) at the Yacht Club, 6 PM- a nice quiet meal right in our resort!
Sunday- TRex at Downtown Disney, 6 PM (out of pocket)
Monday-Sci-Fi Dine-In, lunch, 12 noon
Tuesday- Le Cellier, 6:05 PM
Wednesday- Boma, 5 PM
Thursday- Kona Café, 11 AM (late breakfast after EMH at MK)
Thursday-Cape May Café Clambake, 6 PM
Friday- Ohana (first time), 6:20 PM
Saturday morning- breakfast at Cape May, 7:30. This ended up being a casualty of our AirTran reschedule.
I was thrilled with our dining plans! The Captains Grille and Ohana were both new restaurants for our family.
My pride at these ressies was reinforced when we checked in to our room at the BC and the Concierge CM looked over our dining plans and said Wow, you got some good ones! We cant get reservations like that!
Photopass pre-order
In 2008, one of Bens classmates was having a Grand Gathering trip that overlapped with our vacation. I proposed a photopass share, so we split the cost of the CD that year. In 2009, my cousin Jen and her family had a trip at the end of June, a couple of weeks before our trip. At that time, I was able to pre-order the CD for $99, plus a DISer had posted a code for an additional $15 off, so once again, we each saved big bucks on the photopass CD.
This year, one of my neighbors took her family to WDW for the first time, a week before our trip, so once again, we shared the cost of a CD.
Dont you just love a bargain!
Pre-trip Camera Catastophe
In February, we traveled to Mexico during the boys school vacation. In addition to Mark, Nate and Ben, my trusty Olympus Stylus 1030 SW was my constant companion. Here are a couple of photos from this trip.
The last day of our trip saw pretty rough weather. Overcast, some rain, rough surf. Well, Mark and I really didnt get out snorkeling as much as we wanted to on this trip, so I decided to push it and go out one more time. I didnt get very far. Conditions were horrible, waves were crashing and sand was blowing everywhere. Within 30 minutes of leaving the water, my camera died. Water must have gotten through the seal somehow. Fortunately, it was the last day of our trip, and I still had my sons cameras as backups for our last few hours.
I think I got the Olympus right before the August 2008 trip to Disney. It had been through Tropical Storm Faye. It performed admirably at Atlantis, Blizzard Beach, Typhoon Lagoon and the beach. It had taken THOUSANDS of pictures. RIP.
In March, I ordered a new camera. Satisfied with my Olympus, I decided to replace it with the same camera. The new model offered was the Olympus Stylus Tough 8000. I ordered it online and used it for the next few months, but I had not tested the waterproof feature yet. On the last day of school in mid-June, I hosted a pool party and finally tested the camera in the water. The first few pictures were great. Then the lens fogged over! Apparently, the camera did not like the change in temperature from the heat to the cool of the pool. After a couple of days, I called Olympus. And here is what they told me to do.
Put the camera in a Ziplock Bag. Get as much air out as you can, making a vacuum. Leave the camera overnight to see if the lens clears.
The lens did clear. So the next day I took it to an outing to a fun park with my boys- lazer tag, go carts, mini-golf. Again, when I took the camera from the airconditioning out into the heat of the day, the lens fogged up.
At this point, it is less than a month from my trip and I have no confidence in my camera!
I did some research and decided to try a different camera, the Canon D10. This camera was also rated for underwater use to 33 feet. It is a little bulkier than the Olympus cameras, so it doesnt fit as conveniently in my pocket. And the panoramic stitching in the camera is not as easy. But I have been thrilled with the photos from the Canon, and so far, so good with my underwater pics.
Thats it for pretrip planning- next up: The trip!
Now, as a self-respecting, card-carrying member of the obsessive planners club, I of course have an outline of our travel plans for the next year or so. We like to take a winter vacation, during the boys February school break. It really helps to get through a New England winter knowing we have plans to go somewhere tropical. We also want to take the boys to Washington, DC. The boys are a great age for this, there is so much to see and do there. Ben loves history, so he would be blown away by the sights. We want to return to Atlantis in the Bahamas. To paraphrase one of Staceys RNR quotes Awesome Aquarium! Mega-WaterPark! Hellloooooo! And Mark and I will celebrate our 25th anniversary next summer. We really havent been away without the boys, so a getaway in early December 2011 or January 2012 would be great.
So here is how the plan looked:
February 2010 Barcelo Beach, Rivera Maya, Mexico (booked)
February 2011- Somewhere tropical.
April 2011- Washington DC
January 2012- 25th Anniversary Trip. Where??? St. John, USVI? St. Lucia? Hawaii?
February or April 2012- Atlantis
Theres no Disney in the two-year plan.
PINned into action by Disney
Then, at the beginning of January, in the heart of a New England winter, it appeared in my in-box. My first-ever PIN from Disney, offering 40% off on a stay at our beloved Beach Club. When Mark came home from work, I told him what I received. His response You shouldnt tell me about this if you dont intend on booking it! So we priced out the room.
Checked into airfare. The last two years, we used the same Delta Flights:
Arrival: 7 AM-10:30 AM, Boston to Orlando
Departure: 11:30 AM-2:30 PM, Orlando to Boston
We love the morning arrival flight, early is not a problem for us and this flight has us walking through the gates of MK around 12:30 or 1 on our arrival day. The return flight is not so great though. Since ME picks you up from your resort 3 hours before your flight out, the last morning consists of a quick, stressful breakfast and not much else.
So for our return home, we found a non-stop Airtran flight leaving Orlando at 2:30 and arriving in Boston around 5:30. And it was less expensive than the Delta morning flight. Booked!
Air-Trash Can
As the weeks and months went on, we received a number of e-mails from AirTran. Changes in our flight. At first, the changes were not significant. Orlando to Boston, 2 PM to 5 PM. Ok, thats fine. The next change, however was a killer. Our non-stop flight had been cancelled. We were now scheduled to fly from Orlando to ATLANTA, 12:30 to 2 PM, then Atlanta to Boston, 2:35 to 5:15. ICK!!! And only 30 minutes to change planes in Atlanta. The final blow came in June. Bye Bye to our leisurely morning and the Cape May breakfast we had scheduled for our last day. Our departure flight was now scheduled to leave Orlando at 11:30, arrive in Atlanta at 1:00, leave Atlanta at 2:30 (at least we now have 1 ½ hours to change planes) and arrive home in Boston at 5 PM.
Lesson learned here- we should have stuck with the Delta return flight, which left at the same time as our final AirTran itinerary, and arrived in Boston 2 ½ hours earlier!
180 days out- Regular Dining Plan
Im not sure who posted this originally, but my favorite quote from the DISBoards is:
I dont know what Im having for dinner tonight, but I know what I am having 180 days from now!
We booked our trip in the nick of time, about a week before the window opened to make our dining reservations. I checked park hours, made preliminary plans, and picked out where we should eat.
I decided to try the online reservation for the first time.
I got all of the restaurants within minutes of the times I wanted:Saturday, arrival dinner- Captains Grille (first time) at the Yacht Club, 6 PM- a nice quiet meal right in our resort!
Sunday- TRex at Downtown Disney, 6 PM (out of pocket)
Monday-Sci-Fi Dine-In, lunch, 12 noon
Tuesday- Le Cellier, 6:05 PM
Wednesday- Boma, 5 PM
Thursday- Kona Café, 11 AM (late breakfast after EMH at MK)
Thursday-Cape May Café Clambake, 6 PM
Friday- Ohana (first time), 6:20 PM
Saturday morning- breakfast at Cape May, 7:30. This ended up being a casualty of our AirTran reschedule.
I was thrilled with our dining plans! The Captains Grille and Ohana were both new restaurants for our family.
My pride at these ressies was reinforced when we checked in to our room at the BC and the Concierge CM looked over our dining plans and said Wow, you got some good ones! We cant get reservations like that!
Photopass pre-order
In 2008, one of Bens classmates was having a Grand Gathering trip that overlapped with our vacation. I proposed a photopass share, so we split the cost of the CD that year. In 2009, my cousin Jen and her family had a trip at the end of June, a couple of weeks before our trip. At that time, I was able to pre-order the CD for $99, plus a DISer had posted a code for an additional $15 off, so once again, we each saved big bucks on the photopass CD.
This year, one of my neighbors took her family to WDW for the first time, a week before our trip, so once again, we shared the cost of a CD.
Dont you just love a bargain!
Pre-trip Camera Catastophe
In February, we traveled to Mexico during the boys school vacation. In addition to Mark, Nate and Ben, my trusty Olympus Stylus 1030 SW was my constant companion. Here are a couple of photos from this trip.
The last day of our trip saw pretty rough weather. Overcast, some rain, rough surf. Well, Mark and I really didnt get out snorkeling as much as we wanted to on this trip, so I decided to push it and go out one more time. I didnt get very far. Conditions were horrible, waves were crashing and sand was blowing everywhere. Within 30 minutes of leaving the water, my camera died. Water must have gotten through the seal somehow. Fortunately, it was the last day of our trip, and I still had my sons cameras as backups for our last few hours.
I think I got the Olympus right before the August 2008 trip to Disney. It had been through Tropical Storm Faye. It performed admirably at Atlantis, Blizzard Beach, Typhoon Lagoon and the beach. It had taken THOUSANDS of pictures. RIP.
In March, I ordered a new camera. Satisfied with my Olympus, I decided to replace it with the same camera. The new model offered was the Olympus Stylus Tough 8000. I ordered it online and used it for the next few months, but I had not tested the waterproof feature yet. On the last day of school in mid-June, I hosted a pool party and finally tested the camera in the water. The first few pictures were great. Then the lens fogged over! Apparently, the camera did not like the change in temperature from the heat to the cool of the pool. After a couple of days, I called Olympus. And here is what they told me to do.
Put the camera in a Ziplock Bag. Get as much air out as you can, making a vacuum. Leave the camera overnight to see if the lens clears.
The lens did clear. So the next day I took it to an outing to a fun park with my boys- lazer tag, go carts, mini-golf. Again, when I took the camera from the airconditioning out into the heat of the day, the lens fogged up.
At this point, it is less than a month from my trip and I have no confidence in my camera!
I did some research and decided to try a different camera, the Canon D10. This camera was also rated for underwater use to 33 feet. It is a little bulkier than the Olympus cameras, so it doesnt fit as conveniently in my pocket. And the panoramic stitching in the camera is not as easy. But I have been thrilled with the photos from the Canon, and so far, so good with my underwater pics.
Thats it for pretrip planning- next up: The trip!
natebenma
Beach Club Dee
- Joined
- Jul 19, 2008
Arrival Day
Back to the Beach
My DH and I saw fireworks in our room. Again and Again (Don't worry, this is posted is rated G)
Day 2
Givin it up for Mission Space Orange (Warning: Graphic update not for the faint of stomach)
Saving the world at 9 years of age~ Thats gonna look good on the resume!
We Soar 3 times!
Dining with Dinos
Day 3
A Former Packmule Lightens Up
Birth of a Rollercoaster Junkie
Day 4
Double Triple Mountain Whammy!
Extra Magic Hours Rock!
Day 5
All in a Days Play: Animal Kingdom- Blizzard Beach- Boma- Hollywood Studios- walk back to the Beach Club- And...
Just under the wire for the Back Lot Tour
Racing the HS-BC boat. Part II.
Day 6
I promise the boys 3 Mountains and an Island. By 11 am. Can I deliver?
Racing a Tourgroup to Splash Mtn
Racing a Storm
Day 7
Toy Story Mania, 4 times by noon!
Rubbing Elbows with Stormtroopers
No Brulee for you!
Typhoon Lagoon/MK split up
A spectacular, solitary finale
Back to the Beach
My DH and I saw fireworks in our room. Again and Again (Don't worry, this is posted is rated G)
Day 2
Givin it up for Mission Space Orange (Warning: Graphic update not for the faint of stomach)
Saving the world at 9 years of age~ Thats gonna look good on the resume!
We Soar 3 times!
Dining with Dinos
Day 3
A Former Packmule Lightens Up
Birth of a Rollercoaster Junkie
Day 4
Double Triple Mountain Whammy!
Extra Magic Hours Rock!
Day 5
All in a Days Play: Animal Kingdom- Blizzard Beach- Boma- Hollywood Studios- walk back to the Beach Club- And...
Just under the wire for the Back Lot Tour
Racing the HS-BC boat. Part II.
Day 6
I promise the boys 3 Mountains and an Island. By 11 am. Can I deliver?
Racing a Tourgroup to Splash Mtn
Racing a Storm
Day 7
Toy Story Mania, 4 times by noon!
Rubbing Elbows with Stormtroopers
No Brulee for you!
Typhoon Lagoon/MK split up
A spectacular, solitary finale
Mndisneygirl
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Oct 15, 2008
Well, I'm excited about that outline of events!!
jmskinner
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Apr 15, 2006
Have you seen this picture occasionally posted by Robo in the Theme Park forum?
I found this shortly before the trip and I shared it with Nate. It was our little secret. Every time Tink was mentioned or shown, my son and I would look at each other and knowingly whisper or mouth Tinkerbells a dude! or Dude. This was the perfect humor for an 11 year old boy and was one of the few times during the trip that he would smile or laugh. Dont get me wrong- he had a great time on the trip, but if you have kids in the preteen/teen age bracket, you KWIM!
Too funny. I need to zoom in on some of my shots, I thought at least one was female, but maybe they just went to a more "girly" dude.
Love the dining quote. It is so true when it comes to Disney.
Can't wait to hear how it all went!
Queila
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Dec 3, 2009
I cannot wait to read about your latest trip. Specially the three mountains and one island by 11 am part. After your 4 park- in- a- day experience I KNOW you can pull that one off.
My sister staye at Barcelo in Mexico and she highly recommends it. We thought about booking it for Fe. 2012 but we shall see.
Have a great weekend!
Q
My sister staye at Barcelo in Mexico and she highly recommends it. We thought about booking it for Fe. 2012 but we shall see.
Have a great weekend!
Q
natebenma
Beach Club Dee
- Joined
- Jul 19, 2008
I've actually never seen Fantasmic! Nor has any member of my family. It's too late for my kids at this age. I actually canceled our dinner package a few weeks after I made the reservation.
Too funny about tripping!Very suave.
Amanda
Yeah, the 9PM Fantasmic start is a killer. Hopefully your family can see it during a winter trip when it starts much earlier in the evening. It is super that you could see fireworks from your balcony while the kids slept. I can imagine how great that was. Totally!
Is it wrong that one of my favorite memories from the trip involves the humiliation of one of my offspring?
Well, I'm excited about that outline of events!!
Glad the topics intrigue you. Now I just have to write it up!
Too funny. I need to zoom in on some of my shots, I thought at least one was female, but maybe they just went to a more "girly" dude.
Love the dining quote. It is so true when it comes to Disney.
Can't wait to hear how it all went!
Well you can be sure Disney is adhering to equal opportunity employment hiring requirements when you see a picture like that!
I cannot wait to read about your latest trip. Specially the three mountains and one island by 11 am part. After your 4 park- in- a- day experience I KNOW you can pull that one off.
My sister staye at Barcelo in Mexico and she highly recommends it. We thought about booking it for Fe. 2012 but we shall see.
Q
The 3 mountains and an island turned out to be a tough one. We had 11 am breakfast reservations for Kona, and if I missed out on Macadamia pancakes, there was gonna be a major eruption!
Barcelo in the Riviera Maya was great! We have already booked again for Feb 2011. We are Caribbean lovers, but it definitely satisfies our tropical craving. FANTASTIC beach, Great snorkeling, decent and abundant food. And there is a great unofficial resort website- kind of like DISboards lite. I even associate certain personalities of frequent posters to DIS celebrities. (Phil from Ottawa is like Robo). OK, who spends too much time on trip boards???
Welcome debf. Imagine the welcome icon. I still don't know how to do that. Thanks so much for your kind comments. Glad you are enjoying the report.
Hope to post my next update tomorrow morning!
Not at all!
We're still getting mileage out of Ariel trying to ask my (very shy) 6 year old out on a date! 
Amanda
TwiddleDeeTwiddleDum
Or was that Tweedle Dee & Tweedle Dum?
- Joined
- Jun 8, 2008
I know I keep saying how great your pictures are - especially your water pic's - but wow, your pic's from Mexico are so pretty. I just can't get over how well your underwater ones came out.
One year we were positioned under Tinkerbell during "her" flight, I looked at my DH as Aerosmith started playing in my ear, "That young dude looks like a lady". Now I know I'm not crazy 
One year we were positioned under Tinkerbell during "her" flight, I looked at my DH as Aerosmith started playing in my ear, "That young dude looks like a lady". Now I know I'm not crazy
natebenma
Beach Club Dee
- Joined
- Jul 19, 2008
Thank you so much for reading! And welcome!
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