Roll Out Those Lazy, Hazy, Crazy Days of Summer: an August Trip Report (Complete!)

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

Sufficiently satisfied by our sensational shopping successes, we had a couple of hours to pass before we’d be ready to go in search of dinner. We had reviewed the resort’s activity schedule for the day over breakfast that morning, and knew exactly what we wanted to take part in !

We hopped in the Jeep and made the short drive across the resort to the Fountains section for the 4 pm bingo session hosted by the FUN team. The weather had been rainy on and off over the course of the afternoon, but the sun was trying desperately hard to re-appear when we arrived about 20 minutes before the first number was to be called. We opted to grab some drinks from the Tacky Tiki Bar and admire some of the various items adorning the walls (Jake was impressed that there was a Canadian $5 bill amidst Tiki Tom’s tacky treasures). We purchased two of the Vistana’s refillable cups and checked out the Fountains pool, which was lovely as well (forgot to take pictures though....d’oh!).



Due to the questionable weather, they moved the bingo game into recreation center and we were pleasantly surprised at the number of people who came out. There had to be more than a dozen, and surprisingly, Jake was the youngest of all the participants. Cards were $1 each or 6 for $5. We spent a total of $10 and played two games (opted out of the third) and Jake (the lucky little bugger) bingo-ed on the very first game. Won himself a Vistana beach mat :



Our table was a hoot, and it made for a fun time. There was the three of us, a older lady from Las Vegas, a second lady in her mid-fifties, and a young couple who I think may have been on their honeymoon, along with the FUN team host. The rest of the players, who were taking the games VERY seriously, were all seated at the second table. I bingo-ed on game two, but unfortunately so did three others, so the FUN team host decided to break the four-way tie with a sudden death number-calling, and I lost out on the prize. Ah well, it was probably for the best.....the Serious Players at the second table may have declared mutiny if two people from the same family took home 2/3’s of the days winnings.

After bingo, the boys decided it was time for dinner. Tonight was Steve’s pick, so it was no surprise where we ended up.



It’s without a doubt Steve’s favourite place to eat while in the USA.



We started, as always, with the Zuppa Toscana soup (that is the best soup in the entire world......seriously!) and a basket of breadsticks. Steve ordered his “usual”, the steak gorgonzola.



Jake and I opted for the never ending pasta bowl. I don’t know why I bothered....I couldn’t even finish the first serving of my angel hair pasta in asiago garlic alfredo sauce with meatballs , despite the fact that it was absolutely delish (and, strangely enough, cheaper to order the "never ending" version vs. the traditional single entrée....go figure ).



Jake devoured his Olive Garden favourite, fettuccini alfredo with chicken, then after a short amount of consideration, ordered a “round two” of penne alfredo with chicken.



Bad idea .

While the food was fab (as always), the service could have used a little something. Our server really wasn’t very good. So we sat...and sat...and sat and waited for Jake’s second bowl to arrive. The longer we sat, the fuller he felt as his stomach started to digest the first plate of rich and filling pasta. When the penne finally materialized, he was definitely no longer hungry, and realized his eyes had been WAY bigger than his stomach. That said, he did his best to a least put a dent in it (he didn’t want to appear wasteful, considerate boy that he is) and Steve helped him out by eating a few bites too. No dessert possible at this meal.....good lord, we were FULL.

We rolled ourselves back to the resort, promptly hopped into the swimsuits, and spent another delightful evening enjoying the merits of the Super Pool. We retired to those super comfy beds at a reasonable hour, ‘cause we had big plans for the following day..........we were headed here! :

 

[pigletto]

Every picture you post, that property looks more lovely. I won't derail your trip with more timeshare questions but if anyone could point me in the way of a primer, I'm a researching kind of gal and I will read and read. I had heard too that you can get offsite places very very cheaply on the resale market. If I could do that, and still trade into DVC once in awhile I'd really consider it.

Gina, Jake could star in an ad campaign to get people to come shop the Florida outlets.. He looks so happy to shop in all of those pictures! And here I am with a 16 year old girl who whines and moans her way through trying things on. Sigh.

 

[LadyBeBop]

Loving you trip report, as always, Gina. We're in RCI, and this might be a good place to trade into. We're staying at Wyndham Bonnet Creek next month (we own at Wyndham).

While the food was fab (as always), the service could have used a little something. Our server really wasnt very good. So we sat...and sat...and sat and waited for Jakes second bowl to arrive. The longer we sat, the fuller he felt as his stomach started to digest the first plate of rich and filling pasta. When the penne finally materialized, he was definitely no longer hungry, and realized his eyes had been WAY bigger than his stomach. That said, he did his best to a least put a dent in it (he didnt want to appear wasteful, considerate boy that he is) and Steve helped him out by eating a few bites too. No dessert possible at this meal.....good lord, we were FULL.

Funny, the last time we were at Olive Garden (we're about 10 minutes away), the service was lousy. Did we just get two bad waiters, or is it a franchise-wise thing? I dunno. We'll go there again, but if the service is as bad again, we may stay away.

Every picture you post, that property looks more lovely. I won't derail your trip with more timeshare questions but if anyone could point me in the way of a primer, I'm a researching kind of gal and I will read and read. I had heard too that you can get offsite places very very cheaply on the resale market. If I could do that, and still trade into DVC once in awhile I'd really consider it.

TUGS (Timeshare User Group)

http://www.tug2.net/

Best $15 investment you could make if you're remotely interested in buying a timeshare.

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

Every picture you post, that property looks more lovely. I won't derail your trip with more timeshare questions but if anyone could point me in the way of a primer, I'm a researching kind of gal and I will read and read. I had heard too that you can get offsite places very very cheaply on the resale market. If I could do that, and still trade into DVC once in awhile I'd really consider it.

Gina, Jake could star in an ad campaign to get people to come shop the Florida outlets.. He looks so happy to shop in all of those pictures! And here I am with a 16 year old girl who whines and moans her way through trying things on. Sigh.

You know what the funny thing is? The boys were looking over our vacation pics, and both of them thought that the photos didn't do the resort justice . It was hard to capture just how lovely it was. Definitely nicer than my pictures reflect.....maybe because they just show such small parts, rather than the whole package.

If Jake did nothing but shop and swim in the resort pool on his vacation, he would still have considered it an amazing getaway. I honestly have no idea where he got his affinity for clothing......certainly not from either Steve or me . He is soooo excited to go to college next year, because he won't have to wear the catholic school uniform and will have the pick of all those wonderful clothes in his closet .

Loving you trip report, as always, Gina. We're in RCI, and this might be a good place to trade into. We're staying at Wyndham Bonnet Creek next month (we own at Wyndham).

Funny, the last time we were at Olive Garden (we're about 10 minutes away), the service was lousy. Did we just get two bad waiters, or is it a franchise-wise thing? I dunno. We'll go there again, but if the service is as bad again, we may stay away.

TUGS (Timeshare User Group)

http://www.tug2.net/

Best $15 investment you could make if you're remotely interested in buying a timeshare.

Thanks, LadyBeBop!

We have always had wonderful service from Olive Garden, so I am guessing (and hoping!) that this lady was just having a bad day. Definitely not the same experience as our past visits!!

Thanks so much for the link to TUG. I am thinking that I might be spending $15 this week .

 

[shalom]

Does Olive Garden even have desserts?

I'm looking forward to your Blizzard Beach review, Gina. One of the first articles I read, waaaay back the first time I was researching an Orlando vacation, listed both Disney water parks as a waste of money; the author thought they just didn't compare to some of the other Orlando options and only survived on the Disney name. I figure you've got the background to make a fair comparison.

EI won't derail your trip with more timeshare questions but if anyone could point me in the way of a primer, I'm a researching kind of gal and I will read and read. I had heard too that you can get offsite places very very cheaply on the resale market. If I could do that, and still trade into DVC once in awhile I'd really consider it.

As LadyBeBop said, TUG has all the answers. And you can get a ton of information there without paying the (quite reasonable) fee of $15, but OTOH it might be worth paying the $15 for some people who aren't interested in ever buying a Timeshare, because that gives you access to the resort reviews! But for some reason I found Timeshare Forums less overwhelming than TUG, or maybe it was just organized in a way I more intuitively understood, so I'll offer that as well:

http://www.timeshareforums.com/forums/forum.php

I usually read a board for a long time before asking questions; if you're more likely to post questions right off, people will respond in both places, but TUG is more active so the response time is faster. The "onsite versus offsite" question for Timeshares is "weeks versus points." With points it likely won't matter, but with weeks you need to avoid the Orlando area, because you won't be able to use an Orlando TS to trade into DVC.

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

Does Olive Garden even have desserts?

I'm looking forward to your Blizzard Beach review, Gina. One of the first articles I read, waaaay back the first time I was researching an Orlando vacation, listed both Disney water parks as a waste of money; the author thought they just didn't compare to some of the other Orlando options and only survived on the Disney name. I figure you've got the background to make a fair comparison.

LOL, they do indeed have a dessert menu, but sadly we have NEVER ordered from it . I am usually hard pressed to finish an entrée, let alone finish the meal with something sweet. I suppose it would help if I skipped the soup and breadsticks, but honestly....why would I want to do THAT?

I will hopefully have the BB review up later today or tomorrow (today is my official "cleaning day".....gonna evacuate the dust bunnies and make the bathrooms sparkle.....I know, what an exciting Sunday I have planned ). We visited the two Disney waterparks back-to-back on this trip, so BB was done on day 3 while Typhoon Lagoon was our day 4. Hopefully the posts covering the next few days' activities will be a little more exciting than our "rest and relaxation" days which kicked off our trip . Stay tuned!

 

[dancin Disney style]

lol, there's lots of room for more friends in my weirdness club. Glad to hear you were thinking of me while you were on your vacation, 'cause I was actually thinking of YOU and wondering how your trip was going and how you were enjoying the Grande Vista

Is there a special song or secret handshake for the club?

I found myself a couple of times thinking that we should have made plans to met up with your family while we were there. Like yours, our trip was a 'no plan' vacay. The plan was to hang out at the pool a whole lot....which we did but we could have hung out at the pool with friends.

The Grande Vista was to die for....it will be REALLY hard to not go back there. We are trying to move around a little and try new places. I really want to vacation in another city but I miss Orlando so much when I'm not there. Plus, I've come to a point that a one week trip just doesn't cut it....2 weeks in FL costs about the same as a week in most other places. Anyway, the MGV was a 5 star in almost all areas. The only thing that I would say was slightly less was the condition of the villa. It was great(no complaints) but showing signs of wear. The resort staff could never do enough for you and are the nicest/best we have experienced in Orlando.....even better than the Waldorf. Onsite food was excellent, there were enough activities that you didn't even have to leave and the grounds were perfection.

One thing that we did decide was that the location of the MGV was a just a little far from where we like to be. We drove over to the Vistana area about every second day to shop, eat or go to DTD. That said though, if I was in a rental car I would not have cared at all. For some reason I didn't like adding the extra mileage to my car......ya, totally weird since we drove 4000km RT to Orlando.

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

Is there a special song or secret handshake for the club?

I found myself a couple of times thinking that we should have made plans to met up with your family while we were there. Like yours, our trip was a 'no plan' vacay. The plan was to hang out at the pool a whole lot....which we did but we could have hung out at the pool with friends.

The Grande Vista was to die for....it will be REALLY hard to not go back there. We are trying to move around a little and try new places. I really want to vacation in another city but I miss Orlando so much when I'm not there. Plus, I've come to a point that a one week trip just doesn't cut it....2 weeks in FL costs about the same as a week in most other places. Anyway, the MGV was a 5 star in almost all areas. The only thing that I would say was slightly less was the condition of the villa. It was great(no complaints) but showing signs of wear. The resort staff could never do enough for you and are the nicest/best we have experienced in Orlando.....even better than the Waldorf. Onsite food was excellent, there were enough activities that you didn't even have to leave and the grounds were perfection.

One thing that we did decide was that the location of the MGV was a just a little far from where we like to be. We drove over to the Vistana area about every second day to shop, eat or go to DTD. That said though, if I was in a rental car I would not have cared at all. For some reason I didn't like adding the extra mileage to my car......ya, totally weird since we drove 4000km RT to Orlando.

I am so happy to hear that you enjoyed your Grande Vistas stay! And that you got in some rest and relaxation by the pool as well......its good for the soul, isn't it?

If we happen to both be vacationing in Orlando during the last week of August next year, we will have to make a date in advance to get together at least once. If sitting by the pool isn't your preference or doesn't work out because of weather, I would totally be up for a sundae date at Ghirardelli's!!

That would mean we have 11 months to come up with that secret handshake .

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

I must be rather long-winded today. I think this next write up will have to come in pieces.

Day 3.....its Monday, August 26th, and once again we greeted the day with sunny skies! Mother Nature obviously got my memo about some good weather for our vacation .

While I was up earlier (as usual) than the boys, they too were up just shortly after 8 am. I had collected our breakfast again from the Marketplace, so we were all dressed and out the door by about 9:15....not bad. We punched our destination into Ms. GPS, and it wasnt long before we were passing underneath here:



And a few moments later, we had arrived at our days destination:



Knowing that we planned on doing each of the water parks at least once on this vacation, I had purchased annual water park passes for each of us (cheaper, oddly enough, than purchasing two separate days admission). I had pre-purchased the passes before the 2013 price increase, so the tickets were only $99 each. They were assigned to will call for pick-up so our day started out in the ticket line.

What should have been a reasonably short wait was excessively lengthy.....with only 3 families in front of us, we were more than a half hour before we had our tickets in hand and were on our way. The sole fellow running the ticket booth was dreadfully slow and certainly didnt have any of the magic that Disney CMs are supposed to be so well known for. Despite the line growing longer and longer, not once did they open the second ticket kiosk to help alleviate the backlog, a fact that was causing some less-than-magical reactions from those waiting quite a way back in the line (they did bring out a CM with a tablet to take ticket purchases by credit card, but most folks must have been pre-paid and requiring will-call because only one couple in the line came forward to utilize that service). Thankfully, a wonderful, older CM named Ron did make his way to the front of the line to chat with guests and help keep some tempers in check with his sunny disposition and wide smile.

Finally, we were off to bag check and on our way into the park.







While processing our purchase of a large locker rental, Steve spotted the sign indicating that premium spaces were still available for rent, and asked if I thought it would be a good idea to secure ourselves a set of loungers with an umbrella (at a ridiculous $320 for a polar patio rental, the private loungers for $50 with the locker rental included seemed like a bargain in comparison). I said sure, what the heck? It might be nice to have a little more private area to kick back and relax when we needed a break from the sun. Once being assigned our lounger wristbands and stowing our stuff, we headed over to check out the lounge space and see what our $50 got us.



It was a nice space there....quiet, a little out of the way from the main areas of the park, and nicely shaded (we asked the CM processing our rental to assign us to loungers that would get shade most of the day). Strangely enough, though, despite us being wrist banded (which was supposed to restrict entry to the area to only those patrons who rented the loungers), we didnt ONCE spot a Disney CM monitoring the area at any point during our visit. As a result, a large and noisy family with no wrist bands (and therefore who had not paid for the reserved space) move themselves and their brood into the polar lounger area and utilize at least two of the lounge spaces without paying a dime. I just thought it should have been better monitored (or perhaps somewhat staffed at all) to prevent that kind of abuse.



But I digress. Back to some constructive feedback on the reserved loungers.....we liked the location, which was right by a fairly quiet entrance to Cross Country Creek. Being a lazy river kind of gal, this was a nice perk for me. We were also very close to the Lottawatta Lodge, meaning we had quick access to drink refills and a washroom.



After dumping our beach towels, the rental towels (which come with the lounger rental), our sunscreen, and our sandals off at our reserved space, we set to exploring the park. Steve and Jake are all about the slides, so they were pumped to tackle the feature ride of the park....Summit Plummet.



They made a beeline for the ski lift to take them to the top of the hill. Despite it being very soon after opening, the line-up had already started to build. About 15-20 minutes later, they were on their way up, up, up.





More to come!

 

[dancin Disney style]

I am so happy to hear that you enjoyed your Grande Vistas stay! And that you got in some rest and relaxation by the pool as well......its good for the soul, isn't it?

If we happen to both be vacationing in Orlando during the last week of August next year, we will have to make a date in advance to get together at least once. If sitting by the pool isn't your preference or doesn't work out because of weather, I would totally be up for a sundae date at Ghirardelli's!!

That would mean we have 11 months to come up with that secret handshake .

I will agree right now to a get together next August....if we are both there. We are not supposed to go Orlando next summer but I wasn't supposed to go this summer either

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

I will agree right now to a get together next August....if we are both there. We are not supposed to go Orlando next summer but I wasn't supposed to go this summer either

It's a date .

You know, the Vistana would be a great place for your family to try. Just sayin' .

(We weren't supposed to go back to Orlando after our "once in a lifetime" Disney trip either, and have added 4 more vacation since 2009....so I totally get where you are coming from! )

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

Blizzard Beach, part 2:

While the boys headed to the top of the mountain, I decided to take a little photo tour of the adjacent children’s area, Tikes Peak. Again, it was clearly posted that any adult *must* have a child under the age of 12 with them or there was no admittance to the children’s area, yet there wasn’t a CM in sight so I was able to walk right in and grab a few photos. Breaking the rules, I know.....but I was super quick. I promise. I did it for my Disboards readers. I have no idea if there was an issue with staffing that day, or if certain things are just not regularly enforced. Hard to say as it was our first visit.



Tikes Peak was cutely done, themed as well as the remainder of the park with all the touches of winter you could want (minus the cold). Disney does theming better than virtually anyone (though I think Universal gives them a run for their money in certain respects), and this water park was no exception.







On my way back from Tikes Peak, I grabbed some photos of Melt Away Bay, the bobbing wave pool where tubes are permitted (pending availability). From Melt Away Bay, guests had a great view of Mount Gushmore (where my boys were currently awaiting their ride down Summit Plummet).







After I had taken enough pictures to satisfy my photography OCD, I stowed the camera in the locker and headed for a full revolution around Cross Country Creek. I was starting to get rather hot and sticky so this was a great place to cool down.



Disney didn’t disappoint with all the little details, carrying the park theming really well even throughout the more sedate lazy river. There were multiple “winter” touches such as the Sunshine State snow making machine:



...as well as the home of the “ice gator”, which blew water out the chimney when he sneezed.



After the lengthy tour around the park via my lazy river tube, I returned to the polar loungers to wait up for Steve and Jake. It wasn’t long before they joined me, with a full rundown of their Summit Plummet experience and the wedgies that followed. They have both done extreme speed slides before (we have all been to Noah’s Ark, “America’s Largest Waterpark” in Wisconsin Dells, as well as Aquatica in Orlando, Mount Olympus in the Dells, Wild Water Kingdom in Brampton, the waterpark at Canada’s Wonderland, and Great Wolf Lodge in Niagara Falls...plus Jake has also been to the World Waterpark at the West Edmonton Mall), and while they declared it to be a fun ride, it didn’t rate as #1 for them. Photopass captured some great pictures of them both, so we bought this one when we returned home:



I love it because Jake is screamin’ like a girl from the moment he starts to drop . Priceless.

The boys opted to hop into the lazy river and do a tour with me, as they filled me in a little more on their Summit Plummet experience, as well as the other slides they had ridden thus far. The Photopass photographer several more photos of us in the lazy river, which I loved because getting pics of all three of us together is sometimes tough, so we purchased this one as a digital download as well:



For those wondering, we saw more Photopass photographers than we expected while at the water parks. We had tossed around the idea of pre-purchasing the CD, but wasn’t sure if we’d get the full value out of it after many reports of Photopass photographers being scarce at TL and BB. Turns out we could have probably made it pay for itself quite well had we moved forward with the pre-purchase, but the digital downloads worked well for our purposes (and were a reasonable value at their limited time promo price of 3 for $30 vs. $15 each) .

Lunchtime eventually rolled around, and my two sliders became rather peckish. We opted to grab our mid-day meal at the Lottawatta Lodge.



We found the food options here to be just “okay”. Nothing spectacular, theme park pricey, but palatable enough. Definitely not as good as the offerings at the Waterstone Grill at Aquatica (something both of the fellows commented on as we dined. Knowing we were headed to Typhoon Lagoon the following day, we opted for a refillable cup as our beverage. Steve had some sort of burger with bacon on it, Jake chose the chicken burger, and I opted for the chicken nuggets.



After lunch, the boys resumed sliding, I returned to my time in the lazy river and wave pool (though riding on those tubes almost made me feel sea sick after a while......so I reverted to body-bobbing instead!) and I took some more time to grab some more pictures of the park.







Around 2:30 or 3-ish, the skies grew dark and a storm blew in. Rides were closed and the rain came beating down. We kicked back on our loungers and kept dry under our big ol’ umbrella. It will pass, we said.

A half hour later, Jake and I went shopping in the gift shop as the rain kept beating down. He bought himself an O’Neil baseball cap. We said again....it shouldn’t be long now, and the sun will be out.

Another 30 minutes later, as the rain was absolutely POURING down still, we opted to pack up camp and return to the resort. Having spent 5 hours riding and sliding and splashing away already, we felt we had sufficiently enjoyed the park highlights enough to head out. There was nothing left that the guys wanted to re-ride, so we headed in the rain out to the parking lot.

Of course, on our way back to the resort, the rain stopped and the sun came out. Ah, I love Florida.

Overall, Blizzard Beach was fun. We spent some very enjoyable family time. But yet, at the same time.....it just felt lacking (sorry Disney!). It definitely didn’t stack up to Aquatica for our trio, neither in atmosphere nor ride selection. Quite honestly, while the ski resort/winter theme was spectacularly applied throughout the park, it just didn’t do anything for us. I am sure its most certainly because we’re northerners and see enough of the real stuff to make a simulated winter rather unappealing. I don’t want to sound negative, because we did have a really nice day. But it just fell a little flat, and didn’t live up to our expectations based on the hype we’ve read here on the Dis.

One more pic....this one taken by a Photopass photographer using my own personal camera:



Back at the resort, we changed into fresh clothes, I dried and straightened my hair (or tried to), then we went off in search of dinner as the weather shifted between scortching sunny breaks and quick, drenching downfalls. Tonight was Jake’s pick, so I knew full well where we’d be dining .

And hold onto your mouse ears....we weren't done with Disney just yet, either. The day is still young!!!

 

[bankr63]

Every picture you post, that property looks more lovely. I won't derail your trip with more timeshare questions but if anyone could point me in the way of a primer, I'm a researching kind of gal and I will read and read. I had heard too that you can get offsite places very very cheaply on the resale market. If I could do that, and still trade into DVC once in awhile I'd really consider it.

Gina, Jake could star in an ad campaign to get people to come shop the Florida outlets.. He looks so happy to shop in all of those pictures! And here I am with a 16 year old girl who whines and moans her way through trying things on. Sigh.

Hi Pigletto,

Timeshare ownership is a VERY complex subject with lots of ins and outs. With a little prodding, I'll probably post a primer over on the Sheraton Vistana thread in the reviews. I don't want to hijack Gina's report thread here, but I will suggest to anyone interested in owning timeshares at Vistana or anywhere else that they spend a LOT of time investigating over at www.tugbbs.com before putting any money out. The folks there are very opinionated, but they (we) are all owners and know how to make the best of the system.

One example of the nuances of ownership: if you want to trade into DVC, you can't use another Orlando timeshare; there is a block on that. An important thing to know when choosing where to own.

You don't really need to spend the $15 until you are duly impressed with tug. The BBS and a bit of the information on the main site is free. The $15 gets you access to rental listings and resort reviews primarily. It didn't take me long to spring for the $15 however, and I have been a member for several years now.

 

[greenclan67]

Oh Gina, loving the trip report so far!!! Reading about all of your adventures, Great Wolf, Wild water kingdom, wisonsin Dells. I have to say we did Mt Olympus, and Noahs Ark, last summer. We loved the Dells. Despite the 12 hour drive. But makes me laugh how much we have in common except I have 2 girls. We did Michigan Adventure this summer and loved the waterpark there. I dont do slides much but like you, lazy river is my type of thing. My girls want to try wet n wild this year. We will see.

 

[2Pirates2Princesses]

Yay another Gina trip report I love reading your reports and your photographs are always great! The Sheraton Vistana Resort is absolutely beautiful! My kids have been begging to go to the Disney water parks so I can't wait to read more about your days there and also how you think they compare to Aquatica. I also just have to say that your son is such a remarkable, accomplished young man and that you deserve to be very proud of him.

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

Timeshare ownership is a VERY complex subject with lots of ins and outs. With a little prodding, I'll probably post a primer over on the Sheraton Vistana thread in the reviews. I don't want to hijack Gina's report thread here, but I will suggest to anyone interested in owning timeshares at Vistana or anywhere else that they spend a LOT of time investigating over at www.tugbbs.com before putting any money out. The folks there are very opinionated, but they (we) are all owners and know how to make the best of the system.

No worries about hijacking the thread, Munro. Feel free to chip in wherever you see necessary (assuming you want to, of course ). You have been such a great resource to my family for all things Vistana/timeshare related, you are welcome to use this trip report as a way to help answer the questions of others as well!

Oh Gina, loving the trip report so far!!! Reading about all of your adventures, Great Wolf, Wild water kingdom, wisonsin Dells. I have to say we did Mt Olympus, and Noahs Ark, last summer. We loved the Dells. Despite the 12 hour drive. But makes me laugh how much we have in common except I have 2 girls. We did Michigan Adventure this summer and loved the waterpark there. I dont do slides much but like you, lazy river is my type of thing. My girls want to try wet n wild this year. We will see.

lol, well are you ready for another similarity? Wet 'n Wild is on our agenda for the next trip . Its the only Orlando waterpark we have yet to experience. The boys would love to return to the Vistana in August 2014, so if that trip materializes, I do believe we will have to add it to the itinerary! You can share all your tips with me after your March Break adventures are complete.

Yay another Gina trip report I love reading your reports and your photographs are always great! The Sheraton Vistana Resort is absolutely beautiful! My kids have been begging to go to the Disney water parks so I can't wait to read more about your days there and also how you think they compare to Aquatica. I also just have to say that your son is such a remarkable, accomplished young man and that you deserve to be very proud of him.

Thank you, 2Pirates2Princesses . I will hopefully have the Typhoon Lagoon write up done within the next few days, so you shouldn't have to wait long . We love water activities (as you might have guessed!) so I can totally relate to your kiddos wanting to splish and splash their vacation away!

And thank you for the kind compliment on Jake. He is a wonderful young fellow...Steve and I are truly blessed. He's quite a character sometimes....as you might have guessed from his expressions in some of my photos ....but he definitely keeps life interesting. Steve commented, as we were on the plane ride home, that it won't be that long until just the two of us are vacationing together (now that Jake is in his final year of high school). Steve grinned and said "can you imagine? It will be soooo quiet". Jake laughed and said "yeah, and it will be soooo boring!". lol, he's probably right. He's a good source of entertainment .

 

[pigletto]

I am loving all the Blizzard Beach photos. In all of our trips we've never made it there. DD and I are not waterpark fans overall, but dh and ds are. So on the two times we've joined them, we've ended up at Typhoon Lagoon. Dh and ds said they really prefer TL over BB.

I'm sorry some loud family parked themselves in the reserved spaces without paying. That is one of my biggest Disney complaints. If you are going to have rules, enforce them for heavens sake. Otherwise they are "suggestions". There will always be someone who will take advantage, and I get really grumpy when I look at how much I've paid for something at Disney while someone else disregards everyone else. However the blame lies purely at Disney's feet on that one. If they wanted to enforce their policies, they would. And now I'll shut up about that.

I LOVE your bathing suit! It's so cute!
I'm sorry to hear about the rain though. Hopefully the weather was more cooperative for Typhoon Lagoon!

 

[richmo]

Gina, after going back and forth a few times on the car rental thread, I'm glad to hear you had a great trip! Hopefully, we'll find some good rates again next time...

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

I am loving all the Blizzard Beach photos. In all of our trips we've never made it there. DD and I are not waterpark fans overall, but dh and ds are. So on the two times we've joined them, we've ended up at Typhoon Lagoon. Dh and ds said they really prefer TL over BB.

I'm sorry some loud family parked themselves in the reserved spaces without paying. That is one of my biggest Disney complaints. If you are going to have rules, enforce them for heavens sake. Otherwise they are "suggestions". There will always be someone who will take advantage, and I get really grumpy when I look at how much I've paid for something at Disney while someone else disregards everyone else. However the blame lies purely at Disney's feet on that one. If they wanted to enforce their policies, they would. And now I'll shut up about that.

I LOVE your bathing suit! It's so cute!
I'm sorry to hear about the rain though. Hopefully the weather was more cooperative for Typhoon Lagoon!

You have never been to BB? Really?!? After so many trips, I figured you had done almost everything that Disney offered. Who knew?

We MUCH preferred TL over BB.....but I think the theming played a huge part in that (as did the difference between the wave pools). I am so glad we experienced BB, but I'm not sure we will return. We definitely rank it below both Aquatica and TL, and still have Wet 'n Wild yet to try, and let's face it....there are only so many waterparks a family can hit in one trip!

Thank you for the kind compliment on my swimsuit . I liked it because it hid a lot of my.....imperfections . Of all places, I got it from Walmart. I was placing an order from walmart.com for toiletries to be delivered to the Vistana in time for our arrival, and I added on the swimsuit for a crazy-low $25. A similar one at Sears would have been $70+ . I figured I can never have to many swimsuits, and at that price, it was too good to pass up. Thankfully, I got lucky on the size estimate and it fit quite well.

I share in your rant about the lack of enforcement by Disney. But I'm a rule follower by nature (and quite honestly expect everyone else to be responsible enough to do the same), so probably that's why the whole issue grates on me so badly. Not that it ruined our day by any stretch......I am certainly not that thin skinned nor that wrapped up in the actions of others (as long as they aren't hurting anyone else). But yeah, it annoyed me. 'Nuff said.

Gina, after going back and forth a few times on the car rental thread, I'm glad to hear you had a great trip! Hopefully, we'll find some good rates again next time...

Thanks Rich . Having that big, comfy vehicle has certainly spoiled us for future vacations. That's the tough things about grabbing an upgrade "just this once"....its hard to revert to "normal" on the next trip!

Alamo was good about fixing the price problem (gmeh1 was awesome to post the local number for Alamo at MCO....that was a huge help!) and we were very pleased overall.

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

Dried out and spruced up (a least a little) after Blizzard Beach, Steve and I let Jake decide where the family would dine that evening. Of course, I already knew what the answer would be……so the asking was just a formality. He’s a wing man, through and through. We made the short jaunt to the Crossroads for dinner here:



Now, the weather was still kind of wonky…..pouring one second, scalding sun the next, and sometimes a shower even while the sun was shining. Everything seemed to last about 5 to 10 minutes, but no longer. Finally, the sun came out to stay and we enjoyed a very pleasant late afternoon and evening.

The boys love the atmosphere here, but I must admit I’m neither a fan of wings nor of the hullaballoo that normally goes on within a Buffalo Wild Wings restaurant. Waaayyyyyy too many distractions and far too much noise for my comfort zone (perhaps I’m turning into an old poop after all?). On a previous trip, we dined at an older location on I-Drive, but the Crossroads restaurant was very new. There was a plethora of TV’s lining every square inch of the perimeter of the room, each of them seemingly on a different channel and the volume on full blast. My eyes didn’t know where to look, my head was throbbing after barely getting by fanny in the booth, and conversation was impossible. Of course, Jake and Steve noted that they weren’t there to chit chat, they were there to EAT (silly me).

Steve, always the burger man (a lot of cows lose their life for him while we’re on vacation), opted for this concoction:



I went with the chicken sandwich, naked by choice (I don’t like toppings):



And Jake opted for the messiest wings he could order…..with a side of fries, for good measure:



While the guys devoured their vittles, I could hardly get mine down. The taste was great, our service was also very good, but OMG…..I just couldn’t stand the NOISE. And all those screens with different programs all changing simultaneously. And the din of people trying to talk over the racket. My head felt like would explode, which was putting me on the tipping point of nausea .

Thankfully, the boys were understanding (and sensitive to my plight…..since my brain surgery almost 15 years ago, they’ve become very accommodating to my unavoidable head issues) and didn’t waste any time finishing their meals. They were stuffed to the gills (Jake even had a few wings to take back for a midnight snack) so mercifully there was no need for dessert which would have extended mealtime a little longer. We paid our bill, and I did everything but run out the door (lol, I think I may have sprinted a little ).

Outside in the sun (and the quiet…….oh, the blissful serenity!) I immediately began to feel normal again, much to everyone’s relief (but particularly mine). Since the fresh air seemed to be doing me tremendous good, the night was still young, and our bellies were rather bloated (demanding some exercise to walk off our gluttony), we unanimously voted for an evening visit to……..




Downtown Disney!