2 or 3 TRIPS in 2012! Celebrating my bday DISNEY STYLE - 3/12 & 11/12 and ?? PTRs!

[Lidian]

How precious!! I really want to go back to Sea World. I went in '93 on a school field trip. I don't remember much. I think we saw Dolphins, saw a whale show (Shamu?), and then we spent the rest of the day riding some Bermuda Triangle simulator. We rode it maybe 10 times or more? It was all we found (quickly) that was entertaining. We only found dolphins because we got lost, and we only saw Shamu (or the whale show) because it was mandatory. That's what happens when schools take a bunch of kids to Sea World. I have no clue if we did see everything ... but that's all I remember seeing. Oh... sting rays, too. I remember touching the sting rays and dolphins. But I do know we spent the bulk of our day on a simulator, and it was a Bermuda Triangle one.

Totally love the before pics, can't wait for the "now" ones!

 

[kittylady1972]

How precious!! I really want to go back to Sea World. I went in '93 on a school field trip. I don't remember much. I think we saw Dolphins, saw a whale show (Shamu?), and then we spent the rest of the day riding some Bermuda Triangle simulator. We rode it maybe 10 times or more? It was all we found (quickly) that was entertaining. We only found dolphins because we got lost, and we only saw Shamu (or the whale show) because it was mandatory. That's what happens when schools take a bunch of kids to Sea World. I have no clue if we did see everything ... but that's all I remember seeing. Oh... sting rays, too. I remember touching the sting rays and dolphins. But I do know we spent the bulk of our day on a simulator, and it was a Bermuda Triangle one.

Totally love the before pics, can't wait for the "now" ones!

Thanks! It's hard to believe they were so little and we really don't have a lot of photos from the park that day.

Well at least you remember something about your trip! Our high school did a Disney trip I think but I did not go on that one. I'm sure my experience would have been similar though...all about hanging out with the friends and no parents, not about the sights!

 

[Lidian]

Thanks! It's hard to believe they were so little and we really don't have a lot of photos from the park that day.

Well at least you remember something about your trip! Our high school did a Disney trip I think but I did not go on that one. I'm sure my experience would have been similar though...all about hanging out with the friends and no parents, not about the sights!

It was an 8th grade trip for me ... and I honestly don't recall much about it. I know we did Sea World ... but we did other things, too. We were there for a whole week. I have flashes of things we did, but can't place where they were located.

Oh, and we all saw Joey Lawrence. Whoa! But not sure where.

 

[kittylady1972]

NOVEMBER 2012 UPDATE!
I know it seems crazy, but today marked the exact first day I could modify my DVC reservation for our November trip. Just to break it down, our trip in November is as follows:

November 15: Board Autotrain for Florida
November 16: Arrive in Florida, check into Disney resort for two nights.
November 18: Check out of Disney resort; drive to port for our cruise on the Disney Dream
November 21: Return from Disney Dream cruise; check into Disney resort (TREEHOUSE VILLA!) for 3 more nights
November 24: Check-out of resort and drive out to catch train back home
November 25: Return home

So since our DVC Home Resort is Saratoga Springs, it's the one I can book 11 months in advance. I have to wait until 7 months out to book other resorts.

Well this morning I checked and found a 2BR Lockoff villa at Disney's Wilderness Lodge Villas...the ONLY DVC resort we have not stayed in yet...and so I cancelled our SSR room for the first two nights and now we are staying here.

I'm really looking forward to staying at the Lodge...especially when it's all decorated for Christmas!

I haven't decided if or when I'll tell the rest of the family. They already said they would be okay with wherever we stayed. Looks like I'll be looking into some Wildnerness Lodge restaurant ADRS in my near future!

 

[kittylady1972]

NOVEMBER 2012 UPDATE

I ended up caving and telling my husband about my change to the Wilderness Lodge Villas for the first two nights of our November trip. He seemed...well fine with it. Not overly excited or anything...MEN! However I know he has mentioned before that it is the only DVC resort at Disney that we have yet to stay in so I booked it for him.

However what he lacked in excitement my kids more than made up for this weekend. On Saturday evening, I broke out the DVD I had received a month or two ago about the Disney Cruise Line. We all sat back and watched it and the kids were SO EXCITED! The videos and photos shown on it really got them excited about the cruise now! I think even DD, who previously swore she was NOT going to the kids only area without us, might be more okay with it now. I know the two boys were VERY excited about the areas that they saw on tv. Plus I mentioned the all you can eat food including ICE CREAM...and I think you would have thought I just told them they could stop attending school and just spend all of their free time playing VIDEO GAMES! At least that's how the boys felt for sure!

DH and I made several comments about the adult-only areas and how we'd be dropping them off and we'd see them later as we checked out our areas. We were MOSTLY kidding...but I do think we are going to book at least one meal at an adults-only restaurant and let the kids stay in their kids' areas that night. However just ONE night...we truly will spend time with them the rest of the cruise!

They saw the private island and LOVED the looks of it. They caught glimpses of one of the excursions where kids were swimming with dolphins and I had to STOP them there and tell them that was NOT INCLUDED! I am still really torn about if I should book some kind of dolphin excursion in November in the Bahamas or maybe instead do Discovery Cove in June. I really need to price it all out and make a decision on that pretty soon I guess.

Anyway, I have to agree with the kids that watching the DVD certainly made me look forward to that cruise even more! I know it's 7 months away but I am sure before I know it we will be doing the single-digit countdown.

It's kinda funny actually as right now winter weather is on our mind. Last week it was in the 80s and 90s and I was playing tennis outdoors Monday night. Kids had been in shorts all week. Then yesterday it rained all day and today, in parts of Maryland, they are seeing 6 to 12 inches of SNOW! Can you imagine a snow day in APRIL? Well I am sure those living north of Maryland can probably imagine it, but here in Maryland...that's really rare. Then again, so is snow in October and our first and really only BIG snow for this past winter was back in October of all times. Crazy, crazy weather!

 

[kittylady1972]

JUNE 2012: A Non-Disney Trip with some Disney Flair

I'm really going back and forth on our June trip Itinerary, which is just six weeks away! I am debating booking a few Disney Dining options for the trip even though we have no plans to be in any of the Disney parks...for now. Part of me is still tempted to squeeze in a day at Hollywood Studios, take in Star Wars Weekend stuff and maybe do Fantasmic! since we missed out on that last trip.

So for now:

Wed June 6th: Drop off the dog at the kennel (gotta make that reservation!) in the morning. Pick up the kids at school between 11am and 12pm, hitting the road right afterwards. Arrive in Lorton by 1:30pm at the latest, checkin for our Autotrain trip. By 2:30pm we'll be boarding the train and Florida bound!

Thur June 7th: We should arrive in Sanford in the morning and be on our way to our hotel by late morning. We'll head directly to the hotel to see if the room is available and check in and maybe spend the day by the pool or relaxing. I'm trying to come up with a fun evening excursion or dinner for this night...and considering maybe Sanaa at Kidani Village.

Friday June 8th: Drive out to Busch Gardens Tampa for the day! Spend the day there...closing time is 7:30pm which seems terribly early. Hoping we can get all the big rides in while there.

Saturday June 9th: Spend the day at Sea World.

Sunday June 10th: Open...considering spending our last day at Hollywood Studios for Star Wars Weekends and catching Fantasmic! that night.

Monday June 11th: Drive back home to Maryland.


So that's the current sorta plan for now. Part of me wonders if we should just work in a waterpark on one of those days...maybe Friday? Then do the other two parks on Saturday and Sunday instead and give up my idea of squeezing in a Disney park there. Then again, I also have a kid who would LOVE a visit to Legoland...but wonder if it would keep the other two kids (9 and 12) entertained as well.

Decisions, decisions!

 

[kittylady1972]

June 2012: Non-Disney Trip with some Disney Flair

So yesterday I looked into some restaurants. I think I even made some ADRs...but I'll probably have to cancel them now. After today, I am officially taking ANY Disney Park off the table for this trip so if we do anything Disney it will be a restaurant or something like Hoop de Doo...and yes I have looked into that!

What has changed? Well I found an AWESOME deal for the LegoLand tickets...a B1G1 FREE deal that I could NOT pass up! So I jumped on it and ordered the tickets. That's a pretty significant savings over the last discount I could find on LegoLand tickets, and the tickets are good anytime before April 2013 just in case we can't make it. I'm thinking right now though that it is something we will squeeze in now. If I haven't mentioned it, DS7 is OBSESSED with Lego and he's also gotten AWESOME grades this year in 2nd grade (Principal's Honor Roll 2 out of the last 3 quarters) so I think a special trip for him is in order. I think the other kids will enjoy it too though.

I also found an even better rate on one of the hotels I had booked and so I re-booked it at the lower rate. It's a 2BR Suite at a SeaWorld partner hotel and I think we can probably all stay there, thus splitting the cost of the room in half and saving even more money!

Now it's just a matter of determining which parks to visit on which days. Both BG Tampa and LegoLand are going to require some driving but neither park is open very late during our time there. Part of me thinks we should save BG Tampa for Saturday since it's open a bit later that day (10pm instead of 7:30pm), maybe do LegoLand on Friday since the one extra hour it is open on the weekend won't make that much of a difference, and then save SeaWorld for Sunday, keeping us closer to our hotel for the last day.

Of course, part of me just wants to extend the vacation for another day too...which is certainly an option. I think I might kennel the dog for an extra night just in case!

Did I mention our plan is to do Hershey Park on Wednesday when we return home? Then I have to work for two days that week!

I thought our Disney trips were pretty hard to plan but this one isn't quite that easy either.

 

[kittylady1972]

June 2012: Non-Disney Trip with some Disney Flair

Ok so I've done a TON of number crunching today and I think I've also worked out a schedule for us too. Plus I'm debating some Disney flair once again...but we'll probably make the final decision based on our arrival time.

• Wed June 6: Departure on Autotrain
• Thur June 7: Hoping for an early arrival, based on our experience last June. I have a lunch reservation for all 7 of us at T-Rex in Downtown Disney because we really loved the food there last time. Then I'm thinking EITHER a partial day at SeaWorld or spending the rest of the day at a Disney Waterpark to use our 3 free waterpark passes there. This is a decision we don't have to make right now. That evening I have a reservation for dinner at Sanaa.
• Fri June 8: This is our day at LEGOLand. Hours are 10am to 5pm so we'll leave the room close to 9am or so that morning. Tickets have already been purchased. There is a 7:15pm reservation (Category 1) available that evening for HoopDeDoo currently. I'd LOVE to book this as a surprise ending for the day, but really can't do that until we are down there just in case we change plans. I wonder if it's a problem to book same day? I've love for the kids to see this as well as the adults.
• Sat June 9: We will spend ALL day at Busch Gardens Tampa Bay, breaking our rule of no theme parks on Saturdays! I just think it will be nice to have the ENTIRE day and the park is open until 10pm and they being their night show that same day. We'll eat all of our meals in the parks and might have to consider purchasing the meal plan here. I think it will work in our favor.
• Sun June 10: This is our SeaWorld Day. The park is open 9am to 8pm and we will get early entry and front of the line passes from our hotel for this day. I think it will be a great ending to our vacation. There is still another HoopdeDoo reservation available this day for 7:15pm if we wanted to try for that too. If we are all packed up by the morning then I can see this as another option and a great finish as well in case we don't do it earlier in the trip!
• Mon June 11: Drive back home!
  

So quite the whirlwind trip but I think it will be a GREAT way to start off our summer. This may be our only big family vacation for the summer until our cruise in November, so why not pack as much fun in there as possible?? I cannot WAIT...FIVE WEEKS TO GO!!!

 

[Lidian]

Looks great to me! You are taking me, right?

 

[kittylady1972]

Looks great to me! You are taking me, right?

Sure feel free to join us!!

 

[Lidian]

Sure feel free to join us!!

WOOHOO!

 

[kittylady1972]

23 DAYS until our departure!

Last week was a bit crazy. DH was out of town at a conference and training in Las Vegas. Thankfully he made a little "withdrawal" from the casinos while there...and of course I'm already trying to decide how we should spend HIS earnings there! Plus I told two of my coworkers about my impending departure from my current job, something I was dreading. I'm still trying to decide how to give my boss a heads-up about it. I'm way too chicken though, especially since I don't have an official date that I'm leaving yet!

ANYWAY I did a lot of checking into options for where to stay as well last week. We are booked at a Marriott right now, which is fine...but there are so many condo rentals we could probably get for a little bit LESS money and MORE space...and that's sounding tempting! The good news is that I am not worried right now about reserving anything, as places like that will NOT be flexible at all with cancellations. However my hotel can still be cancelled up to a few days before we arrive. So the weekend BEFORE we leave for our trip, I might look into condo rentals and change. Some of the resorts are REALLY nice! The only thing we'd be giving up is early entry and front of the line access at SeaWorld, but I really can't see that it will hurt us THAT much when mostly it's shows there and the few rides we'll just hit early!

As usual, everybody just leaves the planning up to me and just wants me to tell them where to go once we get there...and how much they owe me!

The kids still don't know where we are headed and I still haven't decided when I'll tell them. When we get on the train, they will know Florida is our most likely destination (as it's the only stop we make for the most part) but they still won't know the parks. I will have to try to remember to video their reactions when I do tell them.

Until that time, our month is really, really busy though. I have tennis matches a few times a week sometimes, DS 12 has tennis lessons once a week, we have a few parties here and there and I'm throwing a baby shower for my SIL the Sunday before our trip! We might do a quick day-trip out to Ocean City, MD for Memorial Day weekend, if we can squeeze it in between parties and tennis, and next weekend we are all running a 5K together! We've been doing the couch to 5K training for a few weeks now, we are not up to the final week but at least we are a little more prepared than we would be with NO training!

So life is just crazy, my weight loss is going nowhere fast and I'm still wondering when I'll start my new job. Plus there is my cat who is in poor health and though he's still hanging in there and not getting worse...he still worries me a bit too. He will be 17 next month.

Yet I am so looking forward to this vacation and I've discussed the dinner shows with DH and he is totally okay with those, so we just might squeeze in some Disney in the form of Hoop de Doo one evening and maybe some other dinner options as well. We shall see.

 

[kittylady1972]

June 2012: Non-Disney Trip with some Disney Flair

Today's Update: I logged into the Amtrak website (I've been tracking the fare prices to see if it will make sense to book rooms for our one-way trip south) and I noticed the oversized vehicle rate had increased. That could only mean one thing...more families have booked the train...and that made me nervous! The prices of the rooms might increase before out trip...and I didn't want to risk it.

So, I called Amtrak this morning and re-booked our trip south adding roomettes for all of us. The two roomettes for our family of five cost an extra $260 or so but I was okay with that. We can save some of that money elsewhere since I'm also looking into changing our room. Being on the phone with Amtrak is NEVER easy. It requires patience but in the end it was all done. I lost my $25 kids fares...but used our AAA discount so I almost made up for that. Plus they did not charge the $50 extra for our vehicle so that was a bonus!

I have several quote requests out for resorts stays. We just might switch to a 3BR townhouse at Windsor Hills Resort. It would cost about $150 LESS overall for the room over our current 2BR suite at the Marriott. It means we won't get the free breakfast, but with a full kitchen we can deal with that. I am still not committing to anything yet, as I figure the closer I get to our vacation and there are still available places to rent, I can probably negotiate a lower rate. After all, you can rent to me for this price or rent to NOBODY ...and the weekend before will probably be my time to make that change.

The only outstanding issue right now is our tickets to SeaWorld and Busch Gardens and deciding on dinner shows.

Hoop de Doo is still available for June 7th but only at 9:30pm. I can get a discount on that price but do we want to be eating at 9:30pm? Will the kids be able to hang that long? The 7:15pm show is available for June 8th, our Legoland day. I think with the park closing at 5pm we could probably be back in time to make that reservation, but I'm not sure. It's still something to consider. Our final night (June 10th) also shows 7:15pm show availability. If we managed to squeeze SeaWorld in over two days, then we could leave the park early on that Sunday and come back, pack and then go to the show as a last hurrah!

I know these decisions really won't be made for a few more weeks though. For now, the train is booked with upgrades and I'll hold off any room changes until that final week.

22 DAYS TO GO!!!

 

[kittylady1972]

TWO WEEKS TO GO!!!
I can't believe we are just TWO weeks away from our trip! Most of it has been wrapped up but I still have some decisions to make, believe it or not. Some of them may wait until the week or weekend before so stay tuned for next week's episode!

I think I mentioned that I ended up booking rooms for us on the Autotrain for the drive down. There was a day when I checked and found the prices for oversized vehicles had increased...so I went into panic mode! I'm so glad I did book the roomettes now...as they also ended up increasing in price! So I saved us about $140 by booking them earlier!

I am still on the fence about where to stay. We are currently booked at TWO places...for now. One of them is a Marriott that is a SeaWorld partner hotel. We have a 2BR unit there that we will all share. Pros are that it is very close to Seaworld and we get perks like front of the line access at the rides there, plus free breakfast.

Then I found a great deal online at hotels.com for another resort. It's closer to Disney than SeaWorld (not that that is a BAD thing! ) and it's also a 2BR unit. It's got a great pool and is more "homelike" than the other place since it's a condo and not hotel. So we'd have to do our own laundry (fine) and fix our own meals (fine) and we would NOT get the front of the line access. However it will cost about $200 less to stay there, or $100 for each of us (split cost between our family and the in-laws). That's a pretty nice savings I think.

The other option is another condo rental also at a nearby resort to the last one. This would gain us an additional bedroom, they would allow us early checkin and would cost also about $200 less than the hotel room. Bonus is that the room has it's own little splash pool too! I bet the kids would LOVE that! I don't want to book this one until the last minute because I have no option to cancel, unlike the other two that I can cancel up until the Monday before our trip.

I'm still considering the dinner shows too. Nothing is booked and we will probably wait until we arrive and book something the same day and take our chances. I'd really like to do both the luau at SeaWorld and Hoop-de-Doo if we can squeeze them in this time.

I am already feeling like the trip is way too short but we will pack in as much fun as we can STAND! I told my husband he can sleep when we get back home!

So there you have it. Nothing has really changed other than I continue to be way too busy to get around to updating my trip report...from MARCH! There are so many end of the school year activities, plus I have tennis matches several times a week at times, plus this weekend we are trying to figure out how to attend as many functions as we have been invited to attend and still maybe make a quick trip to the beach to spend time with DH's family PLUS I have a baby shower to finish planning for NEXT weekend, the Sunday before our trip. Oh and of course I'm also going through the process of getting a new job as well and I have some things I have had to do and have yet to do in order to complete that process. June really cannot come soon enough for me and before you know it July will be here....and we will be welcoming our second neice OR nephew into the world as my brother and his wife are expecting their first baby (thus the baby shower). Anyone exhausted yet other than me? No? Yeah me neither...I'm good. After all on Sunday I just finished running a 5K AND playing a tennis match all within a few hours! So yeah, nothing else going on around here!

 

[kittylady1972]

November 2012 Trip Update
So yes, it is already THAT TIME!! You know what that means right? Time to make my ADRs for November 2012...and I'm already a bit behind but I managed to get what I wanted for the most part.

Of course, we all know they will probably change between now and November. My toughest decisions where when/where to squeeze in our traditional Chef Mickey meal and how to keep my MIL happy with a Mama Melrose reservation. We have NO signature dining booked as of right now and I'm okay with that. I just hope my in-laws feel the same!

So here is what I have booked so far:

Fri Nov. 16th: Arrival day. I think this will be a MK day for us, at least until they close at 7pm for the party which right now I do NOT plan to attend. I have decided we would try lunch at Liberty Tree Tavern. Dinner will be at Whispering Canyon Cafe, convenient since that's where we are staying for this leg of our trip. These are new for all of us, though I think DH and I ate at WCC many, many years ago...maybe Nicolas' first trip? It's been at least 11 years is what I'm saying!

Sat Nov. 17th: Focus will be on Hollywood Studios for this day. Lunch will be at 50s Prime Time Cafe and dinner at Mama Melrose. I'm hoping to try to get in on the 6:30pm Fantasmic! this evening, but might be tough with our Mama Melrose reservation at 5pm since there is ALWAYS a wait there. We shall see.

Sun Nov. 18th: I managed to squeeze in a 7:15am Chef Mickey's Breakfast. We have to check out this morning and head over to Port Canaveral for our cruise anyway, so this should be fine.

Sun - Wed: CRUISING!

Wed. Nov. 21st: Lunch at Coral Reef at 12:45pm. Focus will be on EPCOT for this day. I hope we have this late enough since not sure of travel time from Port Canaveral to here. I also have dinner at 5:45pm at Via Napoli since I'd really like to try this place. These are two very close reservations, so one might just be dessert or appetizers. Possibly spend our evening at MK.

Thur. Nov. 22nd: We are going to heed the advice and visit the LEAST crowded park this day: Animal Kingdom! I have a 10:15am breakfast at Tusker House and this will be our first time here. We will spend the day at AK and then return that evening to our Treehouse where the plan is to order a pre-made Thanksgiving Feast from a local grocery store and eat in our room! If we feel adventurous after our meal, we may try to catch a showing of Fantasmic! this evening if we missed it earlier in our trip!

Fri. Nov. 23rd: Magic Kingdom Day for us! Breakfast at the Main Street Bakery, then lunch at The Plaza! We will get our fill of MK this day and leave if the park gets too crowded. Maybe hit AK that evening or just hang out at our resort.

Sat. Nov. 24th: Check-out day. If we have time for a park this morning, it will be EPCOT for a few hours. Then we have to head over to the train station later to catch our train back home!

 

[kittylady1972]

TWO MORE DAYS until we hit the road for our non-Disney trip to Orlando...with some possible Disney flair!

I've finally decided to leave our hotel decision as it stands, so that means we'll be staying at Mystic Dunes in Celebration. The hotel is pre-paid via hotels.com at a price of just over $400 for 4 nights in a 2BR condo! We'll be splitting this cost with my in-laws so about $200 for us for the room.

We purchased length-of-stay passes for SeaWorld/Busch Gardens Tampa over the weekend. Those came to around $600 for the five of us. The Legoland tickets were already purchase, using the B1G1 free offer so they cost us about $150 total.

So all that is left is food for the most part and any extra activities. Right now I think we'll probably arrive Thursday morning and then head straight to SeaWorld to spend a few hours there. I haven't decided if we'll do a dinner show Thursday night or have dinner at Sanaa. We may take a vote on that one later.

Kids still have no idea where we are headed, only that it is a location on the east coast and within driving distance. It's driving them CRAZY!!

My 9yo DD is already packed and I think my DH is as well. Myself and the boys will get that done today I guess. Plus we have to put together some travel bags to take on the train and stuff to keep the occupied on the long drive back home on Monday.

Wow...a week from today I will be RETURNING from Florida. Crazy!

As for this week, the plan is to squeeze in as much fun as possible in the short time that we are there. I'd like to maybe try some Disney Minigolf with the kids. They have done Winter Summerland but never Fantasia Gardens and I know they'd love that one!

It's going to be so hot that maybe we should consider a water park for our arrival day instead? Don't know yet but we will take our free passes just in case. I thought we'd get to use the waterpark at Legoland but I learned it was an added cost and I don't think we'll do that now since we really need the whole day just to do the park itself.

I really want to try to squeeze in Hoop De Doo but my DH thinks I'm nuts for even considering the 9:30pm show on Thursday. Who wants to eat chicken at 9pm? I am fine with that though!

 

[Lidian]

I'd be fine for eating chicken at 9pm if it was at WDW.

Anxious to hear how things go! Have a safe and magical trip!!

 

[kittylady1972]

I'd be fine for eating chicken at 9pm if it was at WDW.

Anxious to hear how things go! Have a safe and magical trip!!

Funny but I was thinking the SAME THING! After all, it is VACATION! We can eat as late as we want!

I'm not sure what we'll do yet, but don't worry I'll post all about it when I return and I'll probably have some Facebook updates....if I could ever figure out how we could be become friends there!

 

[kittylady1972]

GREEtings from the road where we are about 12 hours into our 14+ hour drive home. It has been a whirlwind vacation full of surprises and some interesting twists and turns. I cant wait to share this trip report with you...all one of my readers!! Hoping to get it started tomorrow when I. Am home and probably should be unpacking!!

 

[Lidian]

GREEtings from the road where we are about 12 hours into our 14+ hour drive home. It has been a whirlwind vacation full of surprises and some interesting twists and turns. I cant wait to share this trip report with you...all one of my readers!! Hoping to get it started tomorrow when I. Am home and probably should be unpacking!!

I'm here and anxious to hear all about it!!!! Hope you arrived home safely!!!!