Book it. Buy it. BELIEVE it! - TR is started! link posted 8/11

[glennbo123]

Now…here is where some of you might flame me. We took the kids to the water park, got them all settled and checked in, and left. Granted, we didn’t go far.

I won't flame you...I think your boys are old enough to be able to play by themselves in a lifeguarded park.

We had a nice view. If you are an aerospace geek that is!

Who might that be?

They couldn’t find their towels.

They’d left them out, in the locker room.

Nice big Lands End towels.

Gone.

Luckily I had two more in the car so we were able to get them dry and head out. In all honestly they could have been taken off of a lounger just as easily and LOTS of folks had left towels out, they didn’t do anything they didn’t see others doing.

We have bad luck with towels.

I've been there. Kinda stinks.

The kids were fascinated by the “old fashioned” airplane seats.

"Old fashioned", like with actual elbow room!

The trip looked like a real nice time!

 

[englishrose47]

Great pix Cynthia !!! Those Old Fashioned seats look comft compared to todays modern ones !!!!
As for Glenn flaming you no worry's he saves that for me

 

[tinacaplan]

First of all, I can't believe you got to see the Spruce Goose! So cool. "The Aviator" was the first movie Mark and I saw together and we've watched it several times since. I thought the Spruce Goose was long gone. But...apparently not! It lives on in a combined areospace/vineyard/water park. Who knew?

Your first lunch sandwich sounds delicious.

The Pacific is really beautiful. I will see it someday.

I know what you mean about airports. Its great that you had the chance to get a proper send off.

 

[Poolrat]

Well, you can link anything if you get creative enough! Put a 747 on top of a building, have slides come out of it and voila! Aviation waterpark!

Now…here is where some of you might flame me. We took the kids to the water park, got them all settled and checked in, and left. Granted, we didn’t go far. Surrounding the museum and waterpark (it’s acutlaly 5 building in total, quite the complex) are…vineyards.

No flaming here at all. Even as an aquatic professional l you are well within your right to leave them.. Your boys are the appropriate age and responsible and you checked on them every hour!!!! I wish everyone was that responsible.

Totally understand your eye issued. Years of being in that enviroment has taken its toll on mine as well.

That waterpark is seriously COOL.

They couldn’t find their towels.

They’d left them out, in the locker room.



Nice big Lands End towels.

Gone.

That stinks. I lost my fair share of towels. I have a closet full of them. I have learned to to get too attached any one since I seem to only "borrow" them for a while.

We did enjoy our parting view of the wings and waterpark

Another COOL shot


Sounds like a great trip despite the crummy weather.

 

[eandesmom]

What a fun trip you took! I like that there were things for all of you to enjoy. bummer about your eyes - it seems everyone has a "thing" that they have to deal with. Nice sweet send-off for you at the airport too!

As my Mother in Law says...getting old is not for sissies!

I'm ready to take a couples trip to the vineyards on the west coast. Problem is the other half of the couple doesn't drink. I guess he can be my chauffeur! I think he would enjoy the scenery at least!

If you go, and you stay in Sonoma (which I actually prefer to Napa but both have benefits and if you go long enough, you can do both) I highly recommend staying here as an ultra romantic getaway (even without wine!)

And that doesn't even include the main pool or the hidden waterwheel sauna and the unbelievable included breakfast and and and...

What a great President's Week vacation!
Your photos make me want to book a trip to the NW.

Too funny! I was thinking that the photo's made it look dreary and cold! It was a very fun little trip, even with the rain. We expect it at this time of year so it really didn't change much for us other than make the one leg of driving a bit of a drag.

 

[eandesmom]

I won't flame you...I think your boys are old enough to be able to play by themselves in a lifeguarded park.

Thanks! We definitely thought so too. Prior to going we researched it and they didn't give any age restrictions. Upon arrival I think they were supposed to be over 13, or perhaps even older than that to be left alone so we were technically breaking the rules and I did stress out about it a bit.

"Old fashioned", like with actual elbow room!

The trip looked like a real nice time!

They could not get over those seats, it was a riot! Although frankly I don't recall coach seats EVER being quite that big. It was a fun little trip.

Great pix Cynthia !!! Those Old Fashioned seats look comft compared to todays modern ones !!!!
As for Glenn flaming you no worry's he saves that for me

Thanks Rosie, much more comfy to be sure.

First of all, I can't believe you got to see the Spruce Goose! So cool. "The Aviator" was the first movie Mark and I saw together and we've watched it several times since. I thought the Spruce Goose was long gone. But...apparently not! It lives on in a combined areospace/vineyard/water park. Who knew?

We spent a TON more time on all the exhibits about the Spruce Goose (the to scale replica models, the actual footage of the fight, etc) then we did going into it itself. Just to be near it and really see just how massive it was, I mean really the entire rest of the museum is basically under it's wings!, was incredible. Howard Hughes is fascinating.

Your first lunch sandwich sounds delicious.

The Pacific is really beautiful. I will see it someday.

I know what you mean about airports. Its great that you had the chance to get a proper send off.

It was a very fun first day!

No flaming here at all. Even as an aquatic professional l you are well within your right to leave them.. Your boys are the appropriate age and responsible and you checked on them every hour!!!! I wish everyone was that responsible.

Thanks Pat! You saying that makes me feel better. We tried to check online before we went there and it didn't say anything about ages. Upon arrival I think it was 13 and older but it may have been older than that and so literally every hour when we went I was totally paranoid we were going to get caught and yelled at and the kids kicked out!

Totally understand your eye issued. Years of being in that environment has taken its toll on mine as well.

Yeah, it's a drag. Certainly that isn't the environment that caused it, it's just one of those things that has happened but it is a major drag. I had to change where Eric takes his lessons as one local pool was SO bad I literally couldn't go in there to pick him up! I wear my sunglasses all the time and most of it is simply to protect my eyes from the elements. Doesn't help much at a pool if they fog up the minute you walk in though!

That waterpark is seriously COOL.

That stinks. I lost my fair share of towels. I have a closet full of them. I have learned to to get too attached any one since I seem to only "borrow" them for a while.

It really was cool, part of me really wanted to scope it out. But I didn't want to pay the $10 non swimmer rate just for that!

Funny you mention attachment. I'd "lost" my favorite towel for at least a year. Cleaned out a closet the other day (and SWEAR I've organized it a couple of times since it went missing, specifically looking for that towel) and voila, there it was! It made me happy to find it although I'm sure it will disappear again.

Another COOL shot


Sounds like a great trip despite the crummy weather.

Too bad it's not um, on the way to Disneyland or something but...it's not on the way to really anything!

 

[EastYorkDisneyFan]

Your pics of the airplane museum remind me alt of the one near Dulles airport in Washington DC that I went to on a family trip in 2006.

Link to my photos of it

 

[eandesmom]

Your pics of the airplane museum remind me alt of the one near Dulles airport in Washington DC that I went to on a family trip in 2006.

Link to my photos of it

Fun! There is a neat one built around the clipper at the SFO airport that we spent some time at last year. We are spoiled a bit here locally, the Museum of Flight and then the Future of Flight Museums both have some really wonderful exhibits that we've spent a lot of time at. I was pleasantly surprised by the Evergreen museum, especially on the aerospace side.

 

[Mndisneygirl]

WOW! I have to show my DH those pictures - I want to go to Sonoma!!!

After spending two weeks with my DH and kids 24/7, I think a couples getaway is a good idea...

 

[eandesmom]

WOW! I have to show my DH those pictures - I want to go to Sonoma!!!

After spending two weeks with my DH and kids 24/7, I think a couples getaway is a good idea...

I bet!

We were able to get a friends and family rate here so it was a pretty amazing deal but I know they do offer email specials if you sign up.

http://www.kenwoodinn.com/

 

[natebenma]

GREAT President's Day weekend trip! Jeff done good!

Your first stop at the brewery sounded superb! The descriptions of the meals made my mouth water. YUM!

A museum/vineyard/waterpark? What a quirky combination! Throw in a Starbucks, some ziplines and a couple of costumed characters and you would never have to vacation anywhere else!

Too bad about the towels. You are going to have to start putting those theft detection devices on your stuff. Or start shopping at lower end stores. Nobody steals my stuff!

No flames from me for leaving the boys. Perhaps if you didn't pick them up at the end of the day. But not sure even then.

I love the coast too. In any weather. The sights, the sounds, the smells!

I hope you plan your couples getaway. Mark and I had our first trip away alone since the kids were born a couple of weeks ago. Loved it!

 

[eandesmom]

GREAT President's Day weekend trip! Jeff done good!

Your first stop at the brewery sounded superb! The descriptions of the meals made my mouth water. YUM!

Very yummy food and great beer. We hit 3 different brewpubs on the trip and this was by far the best.

A museum/vineyard/waterpark? What a quirky combination! Throw in a Starbucks, some ziplines and a couple of costumed characters and you would never have to vacation anywhere else!

I'm sure there was coffee to be had. We actually drove into town in the morning for coffees as we weren't sure before hitting it on the 2nd day. Even with ziplines and characters you'd probably only add a day to the trip. It was quirky for sure but a fun couple of days.

Too bad about the towels. You are going to have to start putting those theft detection devices on your stuff. Or start shopping at lower end stores. Nobody steals my stuff!

They were a bit careless with the towels and they were nice towels so I hope a lesson was learned. Still they'd seen everyone leaving them out so I didn't give them a hard time about it.

No flames from me for leaving the boys. Perhaps if you didn't pick them up at the end of the day. But not sure even then.

I love the coast too. In any weather. The sights, the sounds, the smells!

I hope you plan your couples getaway. Mark and I had our first trip away alone since the kids were born a couple of weeks ago. Loved it!

We try to do one at least one a year. Couple time is critical to a healthy family, we think. We used to be able to pull off a week each year but it's been less consistent as the kids have gotten older, busier and school harder. We did manage Hawaii last year! This year it's tighter than the past between college tuition and the plane. I'm hoping we can at least do a weekend over the summer, probably up to the San Juan's but we will see. We did have a one night get away before Christmas that was absolutely wonderful.

 

[eandesmom]

Remember those flights we booked? Way back on February 1st? Well, they haven’t dropped a penny. A fun side benefit of tracking the prices through Yapta is that I’m also tracking a work trip flight. Sadly, it isn’t a flight to Dover Delaware, which would have meant I could visit Mary Ellen (MEK) but for the one I am tracking and going on, I’ve gotten $39 in credit vouchers already for that trip. No such luck on the MCO tickets. Our tickets are only up $20 as of today, but that’s $20 over highway robbery already! It has been as high as $70 more. What is very clear is that it definitely pays to track and know when to buy, that’s for sure. While this may well be not everyone’s ideal itinerary it’s darn close, for us, given our options. Here’s what our ridiculously expensive flights look like.

We fly into Orlando on the 27th. It’s a red eye..and I mean REALLY red, vampire eye red. We leave at 1am PST! With a short layover in Minneapolis we will get into MCO about 11:30. Although it is a plane change, it is a short layover and I’m actually hoping that given the hour, 2 short flights may actually increases the chances of nappage. We will see. Ideal would have been leaving earlier thus arriving early am. Unfortunately about 3 weeks after we booked Alaska announced a non stop red eye to Ft. Lauderdale. Drive time it’s not a huge difference to Vero from MCO and would have been a less painful red eye. But oh well. Such is life. Maybe someday they will go back to the 3-4 x a week of the Alaska red eye to MCO, it’s a huge drag that it’s only Friday/Saturday now as those are much pricier flights. Our plan is to pick up the rental car after we land, stop for lunch and then head to Vero. I don’t know if we will hit the grocery store that day or not, it’s really going to depend on how we feel. If we don’t, we will need to dine out which is probably not my preference so I might just have to suck it up and go shopping.

BONUS SLUSHIE CREDIT for correct guesses on where we are stopping for lunch.

We then have 5 fun nights at Vero and will drive, early on the 1st to the port and return our rental car, followed by 4 nights on the Dream. 9 nights of beach!



When we were pricing flights it was a little messy trying to figure out our dates. The best deals went Tues/Weds/Thurs departures –Tues/Weds returns. Well, we couldn’t leave on the Wednesday before the cruise, I had a work conflict plus it would have been a full week before the cruise even started. Which of course, is on a Wednesday, ending on a Sunday. Because of this the original original plan had been fly in on Tuesday, one night wherever, cruise, then Vero for 3 nights. I ended up with work conflicts at the end part of the trip that didn’t really allow that to work. Because of this, it added nights on the front end, trying to get the right departure date. Coming back, we could have flown back Monday on a non direct flight or Tuesday for a nonstop at about the same price. Sunday night was more, everywhere, so we’d already ruled that out. We debated. Discussed cheap airport hotels for a night and flying back on Monday.

Jeff brought up staying near DTD and doing that on Sunday, flying back on Monday. I had definitely considered that. SSR could be fun to stay at, it is our new home after all and I figured it’d be easy enough to get. A little shopping, maybe a movie and dinner at Raglan Road. All things that could be a nice, yet mellow, end to the 9 beach/boat days.

I said that would be cool and I was definitely thinking of that too! Then again, so would staying at Animal Kingdom Lodge with a Savanna view since there would be so much to see and do at the resort.

His face lit up.

That’s my favorite park!

Uh…we were talking about a hotel for a night, not parks.

He didn’t want to go to WDW at all.

Right? Except he just said “That’s my favorite park!”

Not one to pass up an unexpected opening , I reminded him that we had (4) 1 day base tickets, if we wanted to we could use them. I’d planned on saving them for the big family trip since I knew he didn’t want to do WDW but there was no reason we couldn’t use them.

We have 4 tickets?

Why?

Doesn’t really matter, long story, they were basically free and we have them. Granted he should have remembered we had them but then again, maybe I forgot to tell him. It is very possible I kept that nugget to myself. It was from a weird but oddly beneficial glitch in a rebooking on a PIN code. I’d used one of them for my May girls trip, upgrading it to a hopper but we still had 4 left.

We could go to Animal Kingdom for a day?

Yes, we can.

And stay savanna view with DVC?

Yes, we can.

I had him at Savanna. If I had Kendall at Bahamas. I had Jeff at Savanna. I had NO idea he felt that strongly about AK. I knew he loved AKL, at least the food options there and I had been leveraging that. The park part, really never occurred to me given his strong vocal opinion about not going to a park. Oh sure, I hoped to work it in there but really thought it was a long shot. Very long. I’d figured maybe at some points the kids would work on him and a park day could happen that way but this one, this one I didn’t see coming at all! My only real hope was if Kendall asked about it as he'd cave if that happened. Your spouse can really surprise you sometimes, just when you think you know them, they throw your for a loop. For that matter, I didn’t even know he HAD a favorite park. Period. I did know that both he and I have been frustrated the past few trips, never fever eeling like we’ve had enough time at AK and that it always gets shortchanged. Which means we feel shortchanged even though it’s due to no ones fault but our own. And it may well be that to him, AK isn't really a "park" in the way the other 3 are.

As you might imagine I had to look at the practical timing of things. If we got into port and left somewhere between 9-10, we’d make to Orlando around 11:30 assuming normal traffic. Check in, dump stuff with bell services if room wasn't ready…realistically it could be 1 by the time we “got” anywhere and by then we’d want lunch.

Using a 1 day ticket for 1pm on and spending part of it doing counter service lunch didn’t seem like a good use of a ticket to me.

The flight we wanted home was at 6:25pm. Which would mean we could be in the park until about 3 at best but would have to deal with packing up, checking out and in with DME.

Using a 1 day ticket for that didn’t seem like a good use to me either.

What’s any good DISer to do?

Stay TWO nights at AKV and fly back on Tuesday. This would give us a very full park day to dedicate just to AK. And without it being a hopper, it would force us (in a good way) to focus on just AK. It would also put us on our first choice flight home, a non stop.

And since we’d told K’s mom that the dates were the 26th-6th…all we were doing was sliding it by one day. We'd given her those dates to create buffer on both sides, we really hadn’t planned on it being quite the lovely long trip it turned into but airfare has a funny way of adding dates! With this change, our trip now looked like this.

7/27-8/1 Vero Beach
8/1-8/5 Disney Dream
8/5-8/7 AKL

Gotta love a 4 night cruise that turns into an 11 night trip…to get cheaper flights! Fuzzy Disney math at it’s BEST!

We actually booked the 1B at Kidani before we went on the President’s weekend trip, it was pretty slick to use the new online booking! Kidani was an easy choice for us versus Jambo for several reasons.

• Two bathrooms sounded just heavenly.
• We LOVE Sanaa
• We prefer the quiet of a condo resort than the bustle of the main resort. Plus we could still walk over there easily enough.

After we got back from our President's weekend trip I made a sanity call.

I upgraded us to a two bedroom!

Jeff, of the supersonic hearing, doesn’t do well with the E’s in the same room. Eric in particular, wiggles. Loudly. In his sleep. I forgot the earplugs. Jeff, although a very smart guy, hasn’t seemed to figure out no matter how often I tell him that yelling at Eric to stop wiggling only wakes the rest of us up. Eric sleeps through it, wiggling away. In Vero, they will be in another room. On the cruise, they will likely be in bed before we are which mitigates things considerably, we didn’t have a single issue on the Alaska cruise. Where it gets sticky is when they are trying to go to sleep in the same room we are in, but we aren’t going to sleep yet. Jeff and I end up feeling a bit held hostage and the boys take a lot longer to settle down. It was an issue every night of the President's weekend trip and each night I'd think...we're upgrading...we're upgrading...

We’d have two rooms if we stuck with a 1B, and just having the 2nd bathroom seemed a pretty big treat after living with one at both Vero and on the cruise (though both have split scenarios...which will help). However, after 9 nights of sharing, I really thought Kendall would need some space from the E’s and that we (meaning those 16 and up) would love a couple of nights that if we wanted to be in the main living area and not feel relegated to the balcony or our bedroom, but still have kids go to bed earlier…we could! Doesn't mean we will but knowing we have the option is cool! Plus a two bedroom meant everyone got their own bed. This way instead of 7 nights of sharing a bed, it would only be 5 for the boys. Add another bathroom and a balcony and wow, everyone with their “own” space...bathrooms balconies and beds! (ok, everyone with lumping the E’s into one giant E lol).

The kids have no idea.

Nor will they. Until we check in. Ok, they will probably figure it out as we pull in, though we will likely try to pull the "we are going here for lunch" trick. None of them have really clued in to the dates yet and if they do, and they ask, we will probably tell them that we are staying somewhere near the airport. It is near. Er. Near(er) than Vero. They've asked about hitting DTD that "last" day so we may play off that as well. I've figured out a slick

That is, unless someone (NOT ME) blows it. I love surprises. We have a couple more up our sleeve but nothing finalized yet.

Up next. Jeff throws me for ANOTHER loop

 

[DisMomAmy]

Kidani!!! You know that gets a stamp of approval from me!

Luckily our boys are heavy sleepers (at least until the wee morning hours) so if we want to stay up in the living room, we can put them to bed in the master & move them to the living room when we want to go to bed. I think having the 2 bedrooms will work out great for your gang!

 

[jedijill]

I Kindani. We stayed in a 2BR lockoff in October and the 3 bathrooms were a godsend with 4 adults and 2 kids...so nice to have the space and the ability to be away from each other!

Jill in CO

 

[dizneeat]

Now that sounds like my kind of trip!
Love the addition of Kidani and then a 2br!!!

 

[MEK]

I'm going with Raglan Road for lunch, assuming you are heading over to Disney property first.

Wow - 2BR Kidani - major upgrade. And exactly how long is it going to be before you add-on? I predict you will be looking for a new contract by the time you get home, maybe sooner.

Yeah for having the 1 day base tickets. Are you going to get your AP then? You probably should, unless you have something else up your sleeve.

Your trip is going to be wonderful. It sounds like a great combo of everything.

 

[KristiMc]

Gotta love a 4 night cruise that turns into an 11 night trip…to get cheaper flights! Fuzzy Disney math at it’s BEST!

 

[tinacaplan]

That is fantastic! A two bedroom at Kidani sounds like heaven. I fall into the category of people who feel truly transported when they go to AKL (never been out to Kidani, but I'm planning on a meal at Sanaa at some point...July, maybe?) and I would love to stay there. It would also be my choice if I weren't going to go to a park. Though it is nice that it worked out that you are. And I'm just happy that you worked out a stop at Disneyworld at all. Well played.

I love fuzzy Disney math... I think it may be the only type I understand. Its how we've ended up staying deluxe. I figure, OK...I would spend this much on rack rate at a mod...but I can get very close to that number with a discount at a deluxe. Which means, I never consider applying that same discount to a mod. If Mark knew the full extent of how my brain works on this, he might kill me.

Once I started reading, I knew where it was headed and hoping you'd be there when we're going to be, but alas, we miss eachother by a few days. Plus, given your short time, any type of meet would have been tough for you guys. Luckily there's October!

 

[Native NYer]

Airfare this year has been the worst I've seen in awhile. Our fares have fluctuated, but not lower than we paid. Actually, it hasn't gone back down to what we paid either. Does Virgin America fly from Seattle to MCO? I've heard good things about them.

Your trip sounds AMAZING! Vero+DCL+AKV-Kidani+AK day= PERFECT!!!

A 2 br at Kidani sounds amazing. And three bathrooms is even better.

What is your departure date from Kidani? I think we JUST miss each other.