Bumps, bruises, too many teenagers & swimming with sharks! NEW 11/17 pg. 32

[archdandy]

I'm joining in! Ugh, so many clouds and so much rainy weather. I hope it cleared up for you guys on at least part of your trip.

 

[JPFamilyMom]

Sounds like a fun non-park day. Sorry the meals didn't work out so well.
What a great review of the hotel/pool/etc. Good information to have especially about the pool for future reference.
Can't wait to see what the next day brings

 

[MRYPPNS]

It never really rained hard that day...I remember it raining a little bit when I was coming out of the grocery store (that would have been about when your were at the movies). BTW, the Publix near Sheraton Vistana Villages makes great Boars Head meat subs...that's what we had that night.

 

[eandesmom]

Originally Tim & I parked ourselves near the slide exit and watched the boys slide. Then Zach wanted to check out the lazy river. I’d finally remembered to pick up the noodles the day before so we grabbed those and I took him over to the lazy river area. Then he wanted to sit in the hot tub so I followed him there. At some point, Alex joined us and thought it would be fun to swim laps around the lazy river – in the reverse direction! Luckily there was nobody else in there. At some point, I went over and got Tim & our stuff and move moved over closer to where the boys were now. This was the one thing I didn’t like about Stormalong Bay… It’s so big! Luckily it wasn’t busy because I understand that it can be hard to find good seats when it’s busy. It wasn’t very relaxing for the adults as we had to move to where the kids were swimming. We really liked the pool for the little bit of time we swam there, but I suspect I might have gotten sick of it after too much more time. I think we’ll wait until the kids are both teenagers to go back.

That's exactly what I didn't like about SAB. Depends on the ages of the kids of course but I felt like I spent all my time trying to keep track of where Eric (in particular) was and even lost him at one point. Very NOT relaxing to me.

It's funny, we told the kids about our one OWK night and they asked why we weren't at the BC for SAB and the truth is that I don't really want to deal with it, even though I think it was actually available for that night. I do love it, don't get me wrong but it was exhausting. Plus to me it would be a bit of torture, being that close to a park but not going. I'm actually (and now are they!) looking forward to some official DTD time, we've actually never really done it believe it or not. Then we talked about the fact that we could pool hop...and all 3 of them (including Jeff) brought up SAB. Um. No. Glad it's not just me who kind of feels that way about it. I actually preferred the quiet pool at the villas!



What a bummer about the rest of the day, between the meals not being the hits you'd hoped for and the surrey bike ride. I'm glad at least you got a movie in that you all enjoyed!

 

[MEK]

I love this picture. Cropped a bit it would be even cooler. I do think Zach is a budding photography!

It sounds like your resort day had its highs and lows. I agree that SAB is work. I was only in it once but I felt like I had to work to get where I wanted to go. Still in all, I would like to give it another chance.

Bummer that the boys did not enjoy their meals on resort day. Kids can be so unpredictable.

Your night time pics from the balcony are really cool. It must have been hard to say goodbye to that view.

I know what you mean about being a slave to your park ticket. I had the non expiring ticket once and you really have to plan well. I STILL have water park passes left 6 years later! I'm thinking about using one of mine this summer. Denny doesn't have the same ticket but there are 6 left on Brians and I am really fighting the urge not to suggest Denny use one of them. (Because Brian never will)

 

[MeMom]

The pictures are great souvenirs!

Chimpanzee was a good movie. We're hoping to see Brave while we are on our trip.

Too bad Cape May wasn't a hit. I'm sure popcorn did have something to do with it. You have to be good and hungry to be ready for a buffet.

Sitting on the balcony eating dessert and looking out at that pretty view - I can picture that being very nice.

 

[mommytothreeboys]

Zach really did get some great shots. I love seeing the vacation from his perspective!

Sorry that the day was not all you had hoped. But...a mediocre day at Disney is better than most days NOT at Disney!

Having older boys, it's hard to remember back to when I would have been doing the same thing with the pool. The time will come when you can relax a bit more. Hang in there!

 

[disneyfan61]

Hi Amy. I remember you texting me that day & told me about the surrey bike ride. I would have been totally wiped out in 10 min. also!!

Zach took some great pictures. I like the ones he took of you on the boat.

Too bad about Cape May. Jeff & I tried it for dinner on our trip in 2010. It was ok. There are other buffets that I like much better. (Boma comes to mind).

Yes it was very nice of concierge to put the noodles in our room. And do you know what? Every afternoon I would forget to bring them down to the pool with me!! I would get to the pool & realize I had forgotten them. So in the room they sat until I returned them to Bell Services.

We still have not seen Chimpanzee. I will need to put it in my Netflix queue.

I just posted some photopass pics on my TR. Thanks again for hosting that share.

 

[Lovemy3babes]

So sorry your day didn't go quite as planned Amy. We still haven't seen Chimpanzee. Hopefully soon! Popcorn and candy definitely can fill you up, quickly!

 

[jeremysdisneymom]

Getting all caught up! Wow, you did have the bumps and bruises. You poor thing!

Wow, you got a lot done at DHS that day. We have never done Jedi or Star Tours. We are not big Star Wars fans so that is probably why.

I love your son and his Kermit moves!!! Too cute. I can't believe you got all those pictures going up and down the Tower of Terror. Man, that ride scared me to death in April. It was fun but not what I expected!!!! Not sure if I will share that ride photo if I ever get my fall trip finished and the spring one started.

Too bad about Cape May. It was probably one of my favorites last summer. I am sure the popcorn had something to do with it.

Can't wait to read more.

 

[KatMark]

I'm all caught up again, Amy. I LOVE Alex's photo tour -- good job.

I've heard a lot of people complain about SAB with younger children because of how it is set up and that it can be quite the zoo (I like my pools at OKW and CSR...never overcrowded).

I love the pictures from your balcony when you and your husband were out there -- very pretty.

I would definitely go with a one-bedroom at AKL -- they are great!

 

[jeremysdisneymom]

Amy, I forgot to mention one thing in my last post. I hate that it happened to you but I am glad I am not alone in that surrey bike ride----that thing is Killer. Never, ever will we do that again unless it is on flat ground.

 

[Chicago Mo]

Notes:
do NOT do the surrey bike... Most likely my heart will explode in the process.... CHECK!

 

[DisMomAmy]

Loved your SAB review. We're staying at BCV for 3 nights in August and I know we'll have to follow my nephews around too.

It's so hard to stay in a standard room after staying in villas.

As long as you know there will be kid chasing to do, you'll love it at the BC!

We've really been spoiled by the villas off-site and even at BWV last year.

I'm joining in! Ugh, so many clouds and so much rainy weather. I hope it cleared up for you guys on at least part of your trip.

I've almost made it to the end of the rainy parts of my TR!

Sounds like a fun non-park day. Sorry the meals didn't work out so well.
What a great review of the hotel/pool/etc. Good information to have especially about the pool for future reference.
Can't wait to see what the next day brings

It was an OK non-park day. I definitely wish we'd had park tickets to use that day because we were definitely trying to come with things to do.

It never really rained hard that day...I remember it raining a little bit when I was coming out of the grocery store (that would have been about when your were at the movies). BTW, the Publix near Sheraton Vistana Villages makes great Boars Head meat subs...that's what we had that night.

Good to know about the subs at Publix. I have to admit I thought it was a little strange that you were having grocery store subs for dinner that night!

You're right - it never rained hard that day but it definitely wasn't a good pool day. That's what I get for relying on the weather to be sunny! Next time I'll have a plan A & a plan B! Or better park tickets!

That's exactly what I didn't like about SAB. Depends on the ages of the kids of course but I felt like I spent all my time trying to keep track of where Eric (in particular) was and even lost him at one point. Very NOT relaxing to me.

It's funny, we told the kids about our one OWK night and they asked why we weren't at the BC for SAB and the truth is that I don't really want to deal with it, even though I think it was actually available for that night. I do love it, don't get me wrong but it was exhausting. Plus to me it would be a bit of torture, being that close to a park but not going. I'm actually (and now are they!) looking forward to some official DTD time, we've actually never really done it believe it or not. Then we talked about the fact that we could pool hop...and all 3 of them (including Jeff) brought up SAB. Um. No. Glad it's not just me who kind of feels that way about it. I actually preferred the quiet pool at the villas!



What a bummer about the rest of the day, between the meals not being the hits you'd hoped for and the surrey bike ride. I'm glad at least you got a movie in that you all enjoyed!

I agree with you about not staying at a resort near the parks if you don't have tickets to use... that would drive me crazy! I think OKW is a good solution for your trip. Too funny about wanting to hop to SAB!

I love this picture. Cropped a bit it would be even cooler. I do think Zach is a budding photography!

It sounds like your resort day had its highs and lows. I agree that SAB is work. I was only in it once but I felt like I had to work to get where I wanted to go. Still in all, I would like to give it another chance.

Bummer that the boys did not enjoy their meals on resort day. Kids can be so unpredictable.

Your night time pics from the balcony are really cool. It must have been hard to say goodbye to that view.

I know what you mean about being a slave to your park ticket. I had the non expiring ticket once and you really have to plan well. I STILL have water park passes left 6 years later! I'm thinking about using one of mine this summer. Denny doesn't have the same ticket but there are 6 left on Brians and I am really fighting the urge not to suggest Denny use one of them. (Because Brian never will)

Zach really does have a good eye!

I'm sure we'll stay at the BC again some day... in a villa!

The good thing about being slaves to our tickets for one trip is that we have 8 waterpark tickets left! I'm sure we'll have those for years to come.

The pictures are great souvenirs!

Chimpanzee was a good movie. We're hoping to see Brave while we are on our trip.

Too bad Cape May wasn't a hit. I'm sure popcorn did have something to do with it. You have to be good and hungry to be ready for a buffet.

Sitting on the balcony eating dessert and looking out at that pretty view - I can picture that being very nice.

We really enjoyed Chimpanzee! And mom & dad got to see it too. If the boys had seen it at school, I doubt we would have ever seen it.

The best part about our stay at BC was sitting on that balcony with snacks from the lounge!

 

[DisMomAmy]

Zach really did get some great shots. I love seeing the vacation from his perspective!

Sorry that the day was not all you had hoped. But...a mediocre day at Disney is better than most days NOT at Disney!

Having older boys, it's hard to remember back to when I would have been doing the same thing with the pool. The time will come when you can relax a bit more. Hang in there!

I'm really enjoying looking through Zach's pictures!

Agreed! A day at Disney is better than any day NOT at Disney!

We got our relaxing in at Vistana - dont' worry! I just wish we'd had more of it!

Hi Amy. I remember you texting me that day & told me about the surrey bike ride. I would have been totally wiped out in 10 min. also!!

Zach took some great pictures. I like the ones he took of you on the boat.

Too bad about Cape May. Jeff & I tried it for dinner on our trip in 2010. It was ok. There are other buffets that I like much better. (Boma comes to mind).

Yes it was very nice of concierge to put the noodles in our room. And do you know what? Every afternoon I would forget to bring them down to the pool with me!! I would get to the pool & realize I had forgotten them. So in the room they sat until I returned them to Bell Services.

We still have not seen Chimpanzee. I will need to put it in my Netflix queue.

I just posted some photopass pics on my TR. Thanks again for hosting that share.

That's too funny about the noodles! I kept forgetting to pick them up & then you kept forgetting to bring them down! This was the only day we used them & it was for all of five minutes!

The surrey bike...

So sorry your day didn't go quite as planned Amy. We still haven't seen Chimpanzee. Hopefully soon! Popcorn and candy definitely can fill you up, quickly!

I wish we could have cancelled Cape May - we knew we weren't going to be able to fully enjoy it before we even went in but it was a CC hold & we had to eat something at some point. Probably would have been better off canceling & losing the $40, then getting CS somewhere. I'll be more careful with the CC hold ADRs in the future!

Getting all caught up! Wow, you did have the bumps and bruises. You poor thing!

Wow, you got a lot done at DHS that day. We have never done Jedi or Star Tours. We are not big Star Wars fans so that is probably why.

I love your son and his Kermit moves!!! Too cute. I can't believe you got all those pictures going up and down the Tower of Terror. Man, that ride scared me to death in April. It was fun but not what I expected!!!! Not sure if I will share that ride photo if I ever get my fall trip finished and the spring one started.

Too bad about Cape May. It was probably one of my favorites last summer. I am sure the popcorn had something to do with it.

Can't wait to read more.

You should try Star Tours sometime - it's fun -as long as you are OK with simulators.

We love ToT & have been on it so many times that I figured I'd at least try to get some photos. The best time was when I could see the Osborne Lights from ToT!

Kermit hands cracked me up!

I'm all caught up again, Amy. I LOVE Alex's photo tour -- good job.

I've heard a lot of people complain about SAB with younger children because of how it is set up and that it can be quite the zoo (I like my pools at OKW and CSR...never overcrowded).

I love the pictures from your balcony when you and your husband were out there -- very pretty.

I would definitely go with a one-bedroom at AKL -- they are great!

I'm so far behind on your TR... I'll make it back over there eventually.

Luckily it was never crowded at SAB so we could switch seats easily but I can imagine that normally people aren't that lucky!

I'm leaning toward a 1BR at AKL (probably Kidani) next April.

Amy, I forgot to mention one thing in my last post. I hate that it happened to you but I am glad I am not alone in that surrey bike ride----that thing is Killer. Never, ever will we do that again unless it is on flat ground.

That bike was embarassingly difficult - everyone always looks like they are having so much fun! I knew we were in trouble when they said the boys coudn't pedal!

Notes:
do NOT do the surrey bike... Most likely my heart will explode in the process.... CHECK!

 

[DisMomAmy]

Before I move on to our next day, (which I have all typed up but I only have a few more minutes right now since I'm sitting at karate), I want to tell the rest of the surrey bike story.

So we get the bike & find out that DH & I have to do all the work... we should have quit right there but we went on, how hard could it be?

We made it most of the way around but when we got to that bridge by the Swolphin, before the big Boardwalk sign and we were struggling. I was pedaling my hardest but I was laughing. Apparently Tim, as he was turning red, thought I wasn't pedaling my hardest and he yelled at me. Well I wasn't having any of that so I stopped pedaling. That's when we had to get off and walk. Oops.

And in a life update...
Life has been super busy here! I’m finishing up my 5th year as co-president/president of our school PTO. We had elections a few weeks ago & we voted in our new co-presidents. I was presented with a really nice gift signed by all of the students at our school at the end of the meeting. It’s bittersweet but I’m ready to move on. I’ll still be involved with the PTO but will need more time to focus on the boys next year as Alex transitions to middle school & school work has been getting more challenging for Zach. We’ve been attending transition meetings at our school & the middle school. I’ve also been attending special ed meetings, working on Alex’s IEP & transition. I’m still nervous but feeling really good about how things are going to go. The new team seems really great!

We’ve also been working on our plans for our little trip to New York City this summer. In August, we’ll be going to New York to see a Yankees game in their new stadium. Tim is a life-long Yankees fan and has been to many games, but has never been to the new stadium. The boys love baseball and like his dad, Alex is a Yankees fan. Zach & I are Red Sox fans but are excited to go to NY & see a game in the new stadium. So far our plans look like this:

We are leaving on Thursday, August 2nd (a day we added so we could have the full day Friday to do some things that weren’t fitting in our schedule). Alex has summer school until noon so the plan is to pick him up right at noon & head to NYC. As of now, the plan is to drive all the way into NYC but we are considering parking somewhere in Southern CT and taking the train. We just aren’t sure where to park & if it’s safe to leave the car all weekend. Tim doesn’t mind driving into the city so we’ll see... Our hotel charges $80/night for a minivan but Tim thinks we can park elsewhere for less… which is fine as long as it’s a secure parking area. Thursday night is open, we’ll probably have eaten in the car so we may do a little exploring/shopping and grab dessert somewhere.

On Friday, August 3rd, we have plans to take a Yankee Stadium at noon. This is the only day we can do this as they don’t offer tours on game days. The tours are limited to 12-1:40 so we have tickets for the first tour at noon. We plan to get lunch somewhere before the tour so we can take off right after the tour (which lasts 45 minutes – one hour) so we can go to the Museum of Natural History. The museum is only open until 5:45. If we can get there by 2:00 we’ll have almost 3 hours, which doesn’t seem like enough time but at least we’ll be able to /get an overview. We need to figure out where we want to eat for dinner & maybe make a reservation somewhere. We’ll probably do some more exploring after dinner.

Saturday is our big game day! These are the only plans we have for Saturday.

On Sunday, we’ll check out and go to the 9/11 Memorial when it opens at 10am. I need to go online & reserve those tickets once we know our plans are firm. They are free, but limited. I don’t think we’ll spend too long at the memorial but it will be good for the kids to see it so they can refer back to it when they learn more about it in school. I think we’ll try to get an early lunch or snack after the memorial. We were trying to figure out how to see the Statue of Liberty without actually taking the several hours it would require to do a real tour. The boys just wouldn’t be able to handle that. Also, the statue itself is under renovation so you can’t go inside right now. That won’t be done until fall. Brook (brookelizabeth) told me about these boat tours that take you out and give you a good view of the statue. When I researched, I found out about these speedboats that are only about a 30 minute ride. I think the combination of a short ride, speed & getting to see the statue will be perfect for our crew. There are two options, one that doesn’t take reservations but starts at 10am and one that takes reservations starting at noon. 11am would be perfect for our plans but not having a reservation makes me nervous so I think we’ll do the lunch/snack thing after the memorial & take the 12:00 speedboat ride. Then we’ll head out of the city.

On our way home, we plan to show the kids some spots in Greenwich, where Tim grew up, and in Stamford, where Tim & lived for a few years after college, before we moved back to NH. That's it for our NY trip plans!

The rest of this wet weekend will involve watching Alex swim in the Special Olympics! He swam yesterday & got a gold medal in his 50 freestyle. We're headed to the pool for three more events in just a little while.

I'll be back with my next real update later today or tomorrow! Have a good weekend!!

And karate's over so no time to proof read! Sorry for any typos!

 

[ddluvsdisney]

We did the surrey bike thing 2 years ago. We won't be doing that again lol
Although DS14 then 12 was able to pedal it didn't help very much! It is a LOT of work. We didn't last the 1/2 hour either.

Love your framed pics. I just got the same BC and GF pic this year. I got the Poly one last year. Every time we stay somewhere I'll get a new one. It won't be for a while though

 

[DisMomAmy]

We did the surrey bike thing 2 years ago. We won't be doing that again lol
Although DS14 then 12 was able to pedal it didn't help very much! It is a LOT of work. We didn't last the 1/2 hour either.

Love your framed pics. I just got the same BC and GF pic this year. I got the Poly one last year. Every time we stay somewhere I'll get a new one. It won't be for a while though

I'm so glad we aren't the only ones who had trouble with the surrey bike!

I'll have to pick up a picture or two at the BW when I'm there in the fall to complete my collection!

Sorry your next trip won't be for a while.

 

[natebenma]

Enjoyed your update! It's too bad the weather did not cooperate more for your resort day. SAB is certainly more fun in the sun.

The nighttime pictures from your balony were awesome!

Sorry you didn't enjoy the Cape May meal more- we have been twice. The first time was on our arrival night, and we discovered that a buffet was not the best choice when we were exhausted. We enjoyed it much more when we planned a meal there mid-week.

Too funny about you and Doreen and the noodles. You are not the first (nor will you be the last) to collect them and then forget to take them to the pool. The poor things, they they think they are going to the big dance, and then... It's lonliness in the room.

 

[eandesmom]

well this doesn't inspire me to want to get a surrey bike! Pretty funny story though!

Busy busy you are but all good things