The Theme Parks, the Dining & Compeed..nailed it! (4/10) Life Update

[Princess Leia]

It is always so stressful with paperwork, cleaning, assessments, grading papers, etc, etc! So glad it finally ended so I had this week to get all my last minute Disney stuff done!

That's seems really early to be finishing for the summer. When do the schools go back? I thought we were really early this year as we are finishing on 24th June. Alan finishes on 28th June. Saying that I'll be in work the following week as I will still have lots to do.

Yes, at Saratoga. We stayed there 4 yrs ago in a studio, but this time, we got the 1 bedroom. It's a beautiful resort!

I'm sure you will love having the extra space in the 1 bedroom. Unfortunately the sleeping arrangements at Saratoga didn't work for us. It must be a great resort for visiting Disney Springs.

Great! Depending on your next update, I may or may not get to read it until we are back!

It won't take long to catch up. I will need to turn my attention to actually doing some planning for our trip next month. Hope you have a fantastic trip!

 

[ArielSRL]

That's seems really early to be finishing for the summer. When do the schools go back? I thought we were really early this year as we are finishing on 24th June. Alan finishes on 28th June. Saying that I'll be in work the following week as I will still have lots to do.



I'm sure you will love having the extra space in the 1 bedroom. Unfortunately the sleeping arrangements at Saratoga didn't work for us. It must be a great resort for visiting Disney Springs.



It won't take long to catch up. I will need to turn my attention to actually doing some planning for our trip next month. Hope you have a fantastic trip!

Here in GA we always get out before Memorial Day but go back in the beginning of August. Lots of other areas go later, which is why the first week of June isn't as busy as later in June.

Yes it seems so odd to me that some studios actually sleep more people than many 1 bedroom villas! But yes, the boat or the walk to DS will be nice!

Enjoy your planning! And thank you! We will!

 

[Princess Leia]

Here in GA we always get out before Memorial Day but go back in the beginning of August. Lots of other areas go later, which is why the first week of June isn't as busy as later in June.

Sounds like a good time to go then. There is quite a variance in holidays in different parts of the UK. Northern Ireland and Scotland finish up at the start of July whereas schools in England and Wales don't tend to finish until late July, I think it's about the 20th July this year.

Safe travels tomorrow! Looking forward to reading about your trip!

 

[c3h3a3r]

Our kids break up on 21st July. That's right down in the South of UK. When in Aug do kids return to school in Florida?

 

[Princess Leia]

I think the students go back the 24th August although teachers are back the week before. What a long summer break!

 

[ariane37]

That's seems really early to be finishing for the summer. When do the schools go back? I thought we were really early this year as we are finishing on 24th June. Alan finishes on 28th June.

Here in NY we finish on June 23rd. Well the elementary schools do; the middle schools finish a couple days before and the high schools are actually done on the 13th except or their finals. Different parts of the country are on different schedules, as you can see by @ArielSRL's dates. The southern states in general start earlier, like August, and end earlier, like in May. We never go back before Labor Day in early Sept. and never get out before sometime in the 20's in June

Very nice Fantasmic pictures! I swear though, last time we saw it, there was no Jafar turning into a snake. It was the Evil Queen turning into a snake, a black and purple one, before Maleficents dragon. Now I have to ask my kids and show them your picture!

 

[Princess Leia]

Here in NY we finish on June 23rd
We never go back before Labor Day in early Sept. and never get out before sometime in the 20's in June

It's interesting how school holidays differ. Although this year we finish up quite early on 24th June teachers go back on 11th August and pupils 15th August. I wonder overall whether children attend roughly the same number of days in a school session.

Very nice Fantasmic pictures! I swear though, last time we saw it, there was no Jafar turning into a snake. It was the Evil Queen turning into a snake, a black and purple one, before Maleficents dragon. Now I have to ask my kids and show them your picture!

It's so challenging to get good photos at Fantasmic. You need to pay close attention to the projections to follow the storyline. The evil queen turns into the hag then it goes into the projected villains section. The very last villain is Jafar with the lines. "It's time to say Goodbye to Mickey! Enter the Cave of Wonder! And now you'll see how snake like I can be!" Then the giant snake appears. I notice new bits every time I see it.

 

[dalmatian7]

Following along!great report so far. You have a lovely family. Here in Pennsylvania schools go back in either late Aug or early Sept depending on what your district decides. We get bad winters sometimes so school dates to get out change as state law says they have to have at least 180 days in class. My nieces and nephews were done last week but my DD isn't finished until tomorrow because we started a few days later and had more days canceled for snow.

 

[Princess Leia]

Following along!great report so far. You have a lovely family. Here in Pennsylvania schools go back in either late Aug or early Sept depending on what your district decides. We get bad winters sometimes so school dates to get out change as state law says they have to have at least 180 days in class. My nieces and nephews were done last week but my DD isn't finished until tomorrow because we started a few days later and had more days canceled for snow.

and . That's great that school's out for the summer. In Scotland there are 32 local authorities. Students are in school for 190 days each school session. Each local authority sets their own holidays. Some parts of Scotland get 2 weeks off in October. If we did that would be when I would choose to go to Florida.

 

[khertz]

All caught up!

What a great idea to split up the TS credits and let everyone choose a few. I doubt we will ever get the dining plan, but if we ever did, I'd probably go with that approach as well.

Love the Fantasmic pictures! I never really liked that show all that much growing up, but now that DS loves it so much, it has grown on me.

 

[ArielSRL]

Students here in GA go 180 days. As a teacher, I go 190. Some places have year round school and only get about 5 or 6 weeks in summer but get that fall break and a Feb winter break and maybe more. I wish we did that bc I'd love to go in October too, though I've heard it is getting very busy at that time of year.

 

[Princess Leia]

What a great idea to split up the TS credits and let everyone choose a few. I doubt we will ever get the dining plan, but if we ever did, I'd probably go with that approach as well.

It makes it fun for the children to be involved in the planning. It does make it slightly trickier trying to put together the itinerary.

Love the Fantasmic pictures! I never really liked that show all that much growing up, but now that DS loves it so much, it has grown on me.

Thanks. I really love Fantasmic and hope to go again this trip. I am really looking forward to "Star Wars: A Galactic Spectacular".

Students here in GA go 180 days. As a teacher, I go 190. Some places have year round school and only get about 5 or 6 weeks in summer but get that fall break and a Feb winter break and maybe more. I wish we did that bc I'd love to go in October too, though I've heard it is getting very busy at that time of year.

Welcome back! Hope you had a great trip. You'll be glad to know I've waited for you to return for the next update. Teachers here work 195 days so pretty similar but I'm sure like most teachers you do way in excess of that. We do get one week at October but two would be my ideal. I would be happy to lose some of the random days we get off in September and May in exchange.

 

[ArielSRL]

Welcome back! Hope you had a great trip. You'll be glad to know I've waited for you to return for the next update.

Well I very much appreciate that!

Teachers here work 195 days so pretty similar but I'm sure like most teachers you do way in excess of that. We do get one week at October but two would be my ideal. I would be happy to lose some of the random days we get off in September and May in exchange.

I really wish we had at least a week in October (though two weeks would be even better...need some recovery time, right?). That's my birthday month. I'd love to attend F&W and MNSSHP again (it's been a really long time since I did).

 

[Princess Leia]

Well I very much appreciate that!

Now you've had the chance to recover I'll post the next update!

 

[Princess Leia]

Day Six Part One: Blitzing Blizzard Beach

Wednesday 8th July 2015

It was day 6 and we hadn’t been to a water park – time to set that straight. The water parks were what Peter was most excited about on his first trip when he was 3 years old. After breakfast we went to Blizzard Beach, by car, arriving at 8.45am.

Our water park strategy has changed a bit over the years. Our refined strategy is a slimmed down approach. We no longer rent towels or lockers and instead leave our change of clothes in the car. This gives us a great head start at park opening. We left our towels at Ski Patrol Training Camp. We headed up Mount Gushmore on the chair lift. Hannah and Alan headed for Alan’s favourite ‘Teamboat Springs’. The family raft ride is really good fun. They headed down this twice joined by some other people. Peter and I kept on climbing for our destination, Summit Plummet.

Who fancies hurtling down a sheer 120 foot drop?



Peter first did Summit Plummet in 2011 when he was only 6 years old. The view from the top is amazing. This is a ride you don’t do because you enjoy it. It was worse than I remembered. I seemed to get bashed about much more and my legs got quite bruised.

We headed back to Ski Patrol Training Camp. This is a really fun area for kids. We had spent lots of time here on our last trip in 2013. Peter was keen to go on the T bar. We were a bit nervous about Peter’s height. I had to encourage him to slouch and flatten down his hair prior to stepping up onto the platform. The lifeguard used his megaphone to ask Peter to stand against the skis. I wasn’t totally convinced but the lifeguard gave his approval. There is quite a strong kick at the end of the line with a drop into 8.5 foot water. I don’t have any photos of this trip so here’s a couple from 2013 when Peter was 8.

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He then enjoyed some time doing the Iceberg Walks. Here is another photo from 2013 to give you the idea.



Hannah and Alan met back up with us. There are some good slides in this area that are much less extreme than Summit Plummet but some do come out into deep water. We went on Cool Runners which is a curvy slide on an inner tube.

Alan was keen to do Teamboat Springs as a family so we headed back up Mount Gushmore. It is fun to watch everyone’s reactions.




On returning to the Training Camp area Hannah and Peter had some more time on the tube rides. We gathered up our towels and headed over to the Purple Slopes where Peter and I raced each other at Toboggan Racers. Alan and Hannah may have sneaked off for another trip on Teamboat Springs. Next up we went to the wave pool – Melt Away Bay. Hannah managed to get hold of a tube and enjoyed floating about on the waves.

We moved to the Red Slope where we enjoyed some time doing the 3 different slides at Runoff Rapids. These are fun to do with a double tube. I much prefer a slide that uses a tube as your body doesn’t get bashed about. Alan did, however, lose his sunglasses at the bottom of the slide. Peter capsized their tube at the end. Alan was not too amused. Peter dived under to get the sunglasses but was asked to clear the area. A diver came along to retrieve the sunglasses.

We finished off at I.C. Expeditions for some ice creams.

Peter had the Olaf Frozen Lemonade Strawberry bar.



Alan opted for a Caramel Sundae.



The girls chose the Hot Fudge sundae. Don’t worry we got one each!



We left Blizzard Beach at 12:00. We managed to get a lot done in a few hours.

 

[ArielSRL]

Looks fun! I've done both Blizzard Beach and Typhoon Lagoon but I think only one time each. I just can't tear myself away from the main parks anymore! Maybe when the boys are older....

 

[wishicouldgomoreofte]

I will have to go back and catch up, but I could not wait any longer.
What does Compeed, from your title, mean?

 

[Princess Leia]

Looks fun! I've done both Blizzard Beach and Typhoon Lagoon but I think only one time each. I just can't tear myself away from the main parks anymore! Maybe when the boys are older....

We are fortunate that we have a 2 week holiday so can spare a couple of mornings at the water parks. They are really good fun!

I will have to go back and catch up, but I could not wait any longer.
What does Compeed, from your title, mean?

Yes, I realise that I haven't mentioned the Compeed even though it played an important part in the holiday. Obviously I'm not feeling the pain now that I felt at the time. Since you can't wait any longer I can reveal that Compeed are hydrocolloid blister plasters. You got to the stage where you couldn't wait any longer whereas I got to the stage where I couldn't walk any longer!

 

[ariane37]

We've never done either of the Disney water parks, even though my boys enjoy the big local water park here. I'm just not a water park person, and like @ArielSRL, I just can't take time away from the main parks I did promise the boys that the next time we go during a hot month I'll give in and we'll do one of the water parks, so it'll just be a matter or choosing.

 

[ArielSRL]

If we had two weeks, I can definitely see us doing a water park!