Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina
Life is short. Live it well.
- Joined
- Sep 12, 2008
- Messages
- 13,825
Hello everyone! Welcome to my newest PTR. To help pass the next “12 sleeps” until our much-anticipated festive family Christmas in the south 
, I thought it would be fun to chat about our holiday preparations with my Disbuddies.....ya’ll are much better at appreciating our passion for Orlando than most of our well-meaning but less Floridafied family and friends 
.
Some introductions are in order for those who haven’t joined in any of my previous threads from our past adventures down south (the links to all of which can be found in my signature, if you are interested in checking those out too). Firstly, there’s myself (Gina) and my big guy (Steve):
Steve and are the best of friends and share a love for Central Florida. If we have vacation time at our disposal (and the necessary vacation budget to make it happen....an absolute challenge these days with the dreadful exchange rate
), there’s no other place we’d rather be. We faithfully buy a Lotto 649 ticket each Saturday in the hopes that the lottery Gods will see fit to expedite our plans to relocate to the Sunshine State on a more permanent basis. Unfortunately, the big jackpot has eluded us so far (though we take great delight in a free ticket win from time to time 
) so we’re working on the Grand Plan in a more traditional way: saving for our retirement. With a little luck, we’ll see the dream realized someday......just exactly when is the big question 
.
Steve and I shared two awesome couples trips this year: the first we’ve ever taken without at least the boy (and sometimes the girlfriend) along for the fun. We did a Universal-focused vacation in May to celebrate our 22nd wedding anniversary:
....and the second was a Halloween-inspired extravaganza in October while the rest of our fellow countrymen were celebrating the Canadian Thanksgiving. That trip featured all the special events we had dreamed of partaking in once we were no longer tied to the elementary and secondary school calendars, including Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Orlando and Disney’s infamous Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party:
We are the proud parents of a young man who is now in his senior year in college (how did that happen?? Where has time gone??). Our Jake is our pride and joy.
(that's him on the bottom right, with his CampAbility campers last summer)
His final classes conclude in late April 2016 and he will graduate in June. This latter part of his first semester currently includes a 4-week placement within his field, and he received an early Christmas gift this past week with an offer of permanent employment upon graduation as a Child Therapist from the organization where he is fulfilling his placement requirements. We are all very excited for him as his future starts to unfold. Add a new girlfriend into the mix (who we just adore!
) and he has a lot to be thankful for this holiday season.
While he opted to take a pass on the May and October trips (he works at our local YMCA and chose to pick up some extra shifts to boost his budget rather than travel), he is very excited to come along for Christmas. This festive trip has been in the works since New Year’s Day (when we booked our villa at SVR, after a rather disappointing holiday season with family) and having us all together....just the three of us!....is the most special gift I can think of as a parent. Especially as Jake transitions to adulthood and opportunities for uninterrupted, family fun times are rare instances indeed
.
So.....with that little bit of background on the cast of this report out of the way, here’s a few of our initial trip details thus far:
Our dates are December 18th to 27th. That includes a park-and-fly stay in Buffalo on the 18th and an overnight stay on Boxing Day in Niagara Falls (we have a late arrival back at BUF, and didn’t want to risk the drive while dog tired and the potential for nasty winter weather).
We are flying from Buffalo, NY via Jetblue, non-stops both directions. Flight times were excellent, having us in Orlando by on arrival day and flying out around 8 pm on the day of departure.
We are staying at our beloved Sheraton Vistana Resort with one of our timeshare weeks. This means we know we’ll be in a two bedroom, two bath villa in the Fountains.
I just submitted our Diamond Lane requests yesterday for a top floor unit (love the vaulted ceilings and skylight) and to be as close to the Fountains pool as possible. Generally, the Saturday buildings are the furthest from the pool area but hopefully they will place us as close as they can.
We have an SUV reserved with Budget for our entire stay. Our all-in price of $272 .... booked w-a-y back in early March, looks incredible in comparison to current rates. After a dreadful Christmas rental on our last yuletide trip in 2012, we are less than keen on Budget.....but Alamo and Dollar are much, much more expensive even for smaller vehicles. So we give Budget another kick at the cat and hope for a better experience this time around
.
We had initially planned this vacation as a no-parks getaway. Having survived one Christmas week trip already (and having our eyes opened in 2012 as to what “crowded” really means
) we vowed to steer clear of the major park families....not easy to do when Steve and I have Premier AP’s with Universal and free Express after 4 pm. This vacation was originally to have included more minor attractions such as the Orlando Eye, Sea Life Aquarium, Madame Tussauds, Kings Bowl, Fun Spot, an airboat tour and the animal park at Wild Florida, mini golf, and some seasonal events like Now Snowing in Celebration and visiting Santa at Disney Springs. Thanks to SeaWorld’s Blue Friday sale a few weeks ago, now we are all annual passholders and have added Christmas Day at SeaWorld into the mix. Aquatica is also a possibility, even if only for an afternoon, assuming the weather is favourable for a water park day. We also have a Disney character meal on the itinerary at Ohana (a family favourite).
My brother and his girlfriend are in Tampa on the same dates we’re in Orlando, so they’ll be coming to see us at least once or twice during the trip. They are joining us for the Ohana breakfast, and that will be my big bro’s first Disney experience in his entire life. It’s taken him 50 years but he’s about to meet Mickey Mouse!
So that’s a brief overview of the plans so far. Having just returned less than two months ago from our October vacation, this one has roared up on us so incredibly fast
. I have an insane amount of stuff to accomplish over the next two weeks (less than that, now!!) and a whole host of Christmas commitments to attend. The time is going to fly by.
In the meantime, we’re all dreaming of a Green Christmas. The warmer, the better 
.
, I thought it would be fun to chat about our holiday preparations with my Disbuddies.....ya’ll are much better at appreciating our passion for Orlando than most of our well-meaning but less Floridafied family and friends .Some introductions are in order for those who haven’t joined in any of my previous threads from our past adventures down south (the links to all of which can be found in my signature, if you are interested in checking those out too). Firstly, there’s myself (Gina) and my big guy (Steve):
Steve and are the best of friends and share a love for Central Florida. If we have vacation time at our disposal (and the necessary vacation budget to make it happen....an absolute challenge these days with the dreadful exchange rate
), there’s no other place we’d rather be. We faithfully buy a Lotto 649 ticket each Saturday in the hopes that the lottery Gods will see fit to expedite our plans to relocate to the Sunshine State on a more permanent basis. Unfortunately, the big jackpot has eluded us so far (though we take great delight in a free ticket win from time to time ) so we’re working on the Grand Plan in a more traditional way: saving for our retirement. With a little luck, we’ll see the dream realized someday......just exactly when is the big question .Steve and I shared two awesome couples trips this year: the first we’ve ever taken without at least the boy (and sometimes the girlfriend) along for the fun. We did a Universal-focused vacation in May to celebrate our 22nd wedding anniversary:
....and the second was a Halloween-inspired extravaganza in October while the rest of our fellow countrymen were celebrating the Canadian Thanksgiving. That trip featured all the special events we had dreamed of partaking in once we were no longer tied to the elementary and secondary school calendars, including Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Orlando and Disney’s infamous Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party:
We are the proud parents of a young man who is now in his senior year in college (how did that happen?? Where has time gone??). Our Jake is our pride and joy.
(that's him on the bottom right, with his CampAbility campers last summer)
His final classes conclude in late April 2016 and he will graduate in June. This latter part of his first semester currently includes a 4-week placement within his field, and he received an early Christmas gift this past week with an offer of permanent employment upon graduation as a Child Therapist from the organization where he is fulfilling his placement requirements. We are all very excited for him as his future starts to unfold. Add a new girlfriend into the mix (who we just adore!
) and he has a lot to be thankful for this holiday season.
While he opted to take a pass on the May and October trips (he works at our local YMCA and chose to pick up some extra shifts to boost his budget rather than travel), he is very excited to come along for Christmas. This festive trip has been in the works since New Year’s Day (when we booked our villa at SVR, after a rather disappointing holiday season with family) and having us all together....just the three of us!....is the most special gift I can think of as a parent. Especially as Jake transitions to adulthood and opportunities for uninterrupted, family fun times are rare instances indeed
. 
So.....with that little bit of background on the cast of this report out of the way, here’s a few of our initial trip details thus far:
Our dates are December 18th to 27th. That includes a park-and-fly stay in Buffalo on the 18th and an overnight stay on Boxing Day in Niagara Falls (we have a late arrival back at BUF, and didn’t want to risk the drive while dog tired and the potential for nasty winter weather).
We are flying from Buffalo, NY via Jetblue, non-stops both directions. Flight times were excellent, having us in Orlando by on arrival day and flying out around 8 pm on the day of departure.
We are staying at our beloved Sheraton Vistana Resort with one of our timeshare weeks. This means we know we’ll be in a two bedroom, two bath villa in the Fountains.
I just submitted our Diamond Lane requests yesterday for a top floor unit (love the vaulted ceilings and skylight) and to be as close to the Fountains pool as possible. Generally, the Saturday buildings are the furthest from the pool area but hopefully they will place us as close as they can.
We have an SUV reserved with Budget for our entire stay. Our all-in price of $272 .... booked w-a-y back in early March, looks incredible in comparison to current rates. After a dreadful Christmas rental on our last yuletide trip in 2012, we are less than keen on Budget.....but Alamo and Dollar are much, much more expensive even for smaller vehicles. So we give Budget another kick at the cat and hope for a better experience this time around
.We had initially planned this vacation as a no-parks getaway. Having survived one Christmas week trip already (and having our eyes opened in 2012 as to what “crowded” really means
) we vowed to steer clear of the major park families....not easy to do when Steve and I have Premier AP’s with Universal and free Express after 4 pm. This vacation was originally to have included more minor attractions such as the Orlando Eye, Sea Life Aquarium, Madame Tussauds, Kings Bowl, Fun Spot, an airboat tour and the animal park at Wild Florida, mini golf, and some seasonal events like Now Snowing in Celebration and visiting Santa at Disney Springs. Thanks to SeaWorld’s Blue Friday sale a few weeks ago, now we are all annual passholders and have added Christmas Day at SeaWorld into the mix. Aquatica is also a possibility, even if only for an afternoon, assuming the weather is favourable for a water park day. We also have a Disney character meal on the itinerary at Ohana (a family favourite). My brother and his girlfriend are in Tampa on the same dates we’re in Orlando, so they’ll be coming to see us at least once or twice during the trip. They are joining us for the Ohana breakfast, and that will be my big bro’s first Disney experience in his entire life. It’s taken him 50 years but he’s about to meet Mickey Mouse!
So that’s a brief overview of the plans so far. Having just returned less than two months ago from our October vacation, this one has roared up on us so incredibly fast
. I have an insane amount of stuff to accomplish over the next two weeks (less than that, now!!) and a whole host of Christmas commitments to attend. The time is going to fly by. In the meantime, we’re all dreaming of a Green Christmas
. The warmer, the better .
How exciting to be back so soon.
) but I will PM you once we decide so you will have my contact info. We tentatively have that planned for Sunday, December 20th assuming nothing unexpected comes up in the meantime.
). 
... its been dreadfully dreary and overcast here. I wanna soak up all that amazing natural vitamin D that I can.
. Nothing worse than an injury right before a vacation. I broke my foot two days before our summer vacation when Jake was about 10, and man did that suck!! I bet he'd love a little 
.
) and do come up and say hello. It's always cool to have the chance to meet fellow Disers in person 
.
