A Red Taxi? Wow...I LOVE America! A June 2016 TR

[tortilla24]

Welcome to my first ever Trip Report! Thank you all for reading along as I try my very best to detail our terrific week spent in Florida. It's been over 2 weeks since we kicked off this journey so it's due time to begin a Trip Report. I didn't ever think I'd start one of these but other people's reports were so helpful in planning our trip, that I'm excited to now pay it forward. I hope my report can be helpful to someone else down the line.

If you haven't read my PTR, feel free to get all caught up here:
http://www.disboards.com/threads/co...-straight-to-orlando-a-june-2016-ptr.3486352/

On my PTR, I chose not to reveal any names or photos but this time, I'm deciding to bend my own rules a little . I'll preface with this: I don't take a ton of photos and when I do, I'm often behind the camera. A photo of me will probably pop up eventually. And so now for a few (real) introductions....

I'm Tala. I live in the DC area but am moving to NYC later on this summer to study graphic design. I can't wait! About 5 years ago, I started working for an American non-profit based in the Middle East and moved to Palestine for 3 years. While there, I became great friends with my fabulous colleague, Suhad. Suhad is a family therapist and mother to 3 boys and overall, a pretty amazing person. Suhad brought along her younger two kiddos - Omar (14) and Qais (8, pronounced like K-ice). Neither boys had been to the US in nearly 8 years and were so beyond excited about coming for a month to visit.



I'm excited to share our experiences of driving to (and from) Orlando, and our stops along the way. I'll give my 2 cents on our various hotel stays - including the Royal Pacific Resort. I'll let you in on our single super crazy day in the Magic Kingdom, and our 2 much more relaxed days in Universal. I'll share some of our Clearwater beach adventure and maybe even a little of our NYC trip right after!

Lots of amazing highs to share and a few challenges along the way.

Next up, I'll explain the title of the Trip Report as we hit the road for Florida!

 

[macraven]

So far looks like I'm first here
Waiting for the others to read about your trip!

 

[Lynne G]

Subbing, and a great start. Enjoyed your prereport as well.

 

[tink1957]

I'm here and can't wait to hear about your adventures

 

[cam757]

Looking forward to reading along....

 

[cocofifi]

Looking forward to following along!

 

[VacaPlanner2012]

Yeah!!!! I have been waiting!!! This will be awesome, I was there the same week!!!

 

[thiabelle]

I can't wait to read about your adventures!! Your ptr was awesome.

 

[tortilla24]

Subbing, and a great start. Enjoyed your prereport as well.

Glad to have you here and as a reader on my PTR as well. Thanks for following along!

I'm here and can't wait to hear about your adventures

Welcome! We had quite the adventure and I can't wait to share it!

Looking forward to reading along....

Happy to have you joining!

Looking forward to following along!

Thanks for reading. It's always more fun with a crowd!

Yeah!!!! I have been waiting!!! This will be awesome, I was there the same week!!!

Oh how awesome! We felt so lucky weather-wise and never needed to crack out a poncho!

I can't wait to read about your adventures!! Your ptr was awesome.

That's so nice of you to say! I'm glad to have you here joining me!

 

[tortilla24]

Sunday, June 12th

We started the day with a nice and early wake up call... 5am! I definitely had the butterflies in my stomach feeling and couldn't wait to get on the road. Sus, the boys and I were feeling rather squished in my studio apartment , but we managed to all get dressed and ready to go in a timely fashion. We loaded up into the car and were on the road by 6am. We gave Qais 1/2 of a Dramamine (as he had some car sickness on his way to the airport a few days ago), readied the bucket and prayed for the best.

While we drove through the neighborhood, making our way towards I-95, Qais spotted a red taxi cab. He looked at me from the back seat and said (in English), "A red taxi? Wow...I LOVE America!" We all laughed but it was very indicative of our time to come and of Qais' experiences here. He saw joy in the smallest details but also had questions about everything.

Once we were well on our way down I-95, the 3 visitors kept commenting about how green the scenery was. To be honest, having lived here my whole life, I had never even noticed how lush our highways are. Having this trio along with me was a definite reminder to not take things for granted. We spotted things along the way and I answered a ton of questions about speeding tickets, express lanes, toll booths and the rumble strips along the shoulders of the lanes. Omar and Suhad thought the rumble strips were particularly brilliant.

I believe we made it all the way to North Carolina before needing to stop for gas and to stretch our legs. We munched on the snacks and sandwiches in the cooler and I pulled out the surprise goody bags from the trunk of the car. I mentioned in my PTR what kinds of things were in there - it was a lot of road trip games, candies, shirts, lanyards, etc. They loved the bags and I too got my fair share of their sweet treats

Qais was pretty impatient most of the ride down. He pulled the typical kid thing and asked at least 50 times if we were there yet. Of course we were not but I promised him we could stop at South of the Border. South of the Border is an attraction on I-95 in South Carolina, right where it borders North Carolina. It's really nothing special but it's a place to stop and rest and see the fun Mexican motifs. Plus, there were seriously 100 billboards for this place as we made our way south and it peaked all of our interest somewhat.

When we got there, we stopped at the reptile house to take pictures next to a dinosaur. And yay -it looks like I made it into a picture!


Qais must've been channeling his inner Harry Potter here.


It was HOT and the boys got themselves an ice cream. But to be honest, none of us were particularly impressed with the place (it's pretty campy) as we made our way back to the car.

It was 3:30 pm when we got to Savannah, GA. We stayed at a Hampton Inn and our room was upgraded to a suite! Our first bit of pixie dust . It was only for one night but we were excited nonetheless. After settling in, we made our way straight to Tybee Island. Everyone was about to see the ocean for the very first time! As we pulled in the parking lot, we were waiting for a spot and the group was taking a while to load up their car. We thought maybe we'd go try another spot when the driver came out to our car and gave us his parking ticket - good for the next 2 hours! More pixie dust! Such a nice gesture and we were all glad we were patient in waiting behind that car.

To say Qais loved the beach would be a gross understatement. The kid was literally on cloud nine as he splashed in the waves . None of us had proper swim gear. It didn't stop Qais but Suhad and I just dipped our toes. Omar acted too cool for school and didn't want to get near the water at first, but I totally guilted him into it



After an hour, we heard thunder and saw lightening and made our way back towards the car. Dinner time! I listed off different places that many of you had mentioned we try but Suhad had just one thing she was craving... Chipotle! She had remembered it vividly when she was here last 3 years ago . To Chipotle we went and everyone was full and happy. We made our way back to the hotel where Omar and I worked out a bit at the gym and then we brought Qais with us to swim in their indoor pool. Qais isn't a great swimmer but boy is this kid a total fish. "Is there a pool?" also could have easily been the title of this trip report. After showers, we all settled in and fell asleep quickly.

Up next, our arrival into Orlando!

 

[VacaPlanner2012]

OMG, I am a total sap at times and know there will be so many happy tears as I read along! "Total Perspective Change" will be my subtitle of this report. Oh, the things we take for granted at times...Great start!

 

[tink1957]

Great start

 

[macraven]

The adventure has started and sounds as it was a blast from the time all got in the car

 

[tortilla24]

OMG, I am a total sap at times and know there will be so many happy tears as I read along! "Total Perspective Change" will be my subtitle of this report. Oh, the things we take for granted at times...Great start!

Such a spot-on subtitle. This trip was certainly eye-opening for all involved!

Great start

Thanks. More fun to come!

The adventure has started and sounds as it was a blast from the time all got in the car

I'm quite surprised as to how easy the drive was! I could've kept going all the way to Orlando but Qais really wouldn't have been able to so in the end, I'm glad we stopped for his sake. But yep, the fun started early on this trip!

 

[Lynne G]

Sounds like the road trip was fun so far. Yeah, the beach, if you always wanted to see it, and you do, happy campers.

 

[tortilla24]

Monday, June 13th

On our drive down the day before, I received a text from my boyfriend re the Orlando shootings that had happened earlier that very same day. Suhad and I discussed it (while the boys dozed off) and we were just in total shock. We felt so completely sad about what had happened. Suhad was a bit concerned about Orlando safety and we checked the news to make sure there were no closures at any parks and were glad to see there were not. Later that day, we found out the shooter's name was Omar, the same name as her son. It just made the whole thing even more sad as she worried about whether or not she should say his name in public or while at the parks. She worried people may judge them as Middle Easterners - especially if people overheard us speaking Arabic. We also came to the conclusion that we would not let either of the kids know about what happened until after the trip, if we could help it. Omar had already heard about the Christina Grimmie shooting several days before and it made him a bit nervous. We definitely didn't want him to feel more anxious.

So the next day we went downstairs for a quick complimentary breakfast near the hotel's lobby. There were TV screens all over covering the news in Orlando and surprisingly, neither of the boys caught on. Omar never picked up anything the entire week we were in Florida, which really helped us all enjoy our vacation.
By 8:30am we were on the road again and it wasn't long until we reached Florida!

We made our first pit-stop at the Florida Welcome Center for free orange juice. Suhad and the kiddos were impressed but to me, it certainly didn't taste fresh-squeezed. I like my OJ with a ton of pulp! It was what I expected for free juice though.

Regardless, we enjoyed some photo opportunities there with a dolphin...


Watched Finding Dory snippets and previews...


And took some funny pictures, too.


But we all had Orlando on our minds and we didn't spend more than 15 minutes there and were back on the road, making a straight shot to the Royal Pacific Resort!

We arrived at RPR at 12:30. We were going to drop the bags off and then I would go park the car but it was so crowded near the lobby loop, that we just decided to park and haul our bags up to the lobby together. Qais loved the bridge leading up to lobby with the little frogs playing instruments! The trio sat with the bags while I check-in, assuming the room wasn't yet ready. And I was totally right, it wasn't ready, but they told me not to worry and that they would send a text message when the room was ready. I will note that they asked if I had a car parked on property and I said we did. They told me that I'd need the room key to enter/exit the lot and I was charged the daily car parking fee. Never once did we need that key to enter of exit (and we came and went at all odd hours in the day). Makes me think that next time, I may not even need to tell them that I have a car on property...

When I made my way back to the others, they all looked giddy and had just received their leis. Suhad in particular felt so fancy. We changed our clothes, put on swimsuits, and checked our bags in with luggage services. Since we had a ton of energy and a ton of time, we decided to start the day with a bit of pool hopping!

Up next: We're off to Hard Rock Hotel!

 

[thiabelle]

Oh I can't wait to hear...

 

[schumigirl]

Finally catching up on your trip!

Lovely start to your trip, although I can imagine how worried you were arriving just after the shootings. But, hopefully it went well after that.

Lovely pictures.......looking forward to reading more of your trip........

 

[tortilla24]

Monday, June 13th, continued....

We decided to walk from RPR to HRH. The boys were itching to check out the slide there so that's where we headed. It was HOT and walking to HRH was probably not the wisest choice in the long run. But walk we did. Now I thought HRH was right by the parks - at least that's what I had heard. So imagine my surprise when I walked into the Hard Rock Cafe thinking we had arrived ... rookie mistake but onwards we walked. At this point, Qais was getting blisters from his sandals but luckily, we had finally arrived!

They checked our hotel room keys at the pool and in we went. We were worried about Qais' ability to swim (he's a fish but is a really weak swimmer) and we grabbed him a complimentary life vest. We sent Omar to store our bags in a locker for safe keeping while we sunscreened up and made a run for it to the slide. Now I think the slide is okay but if you're a kid who has never been on a water slide before, it's super fun!

One of the absolute funniest moments was seeing Suhad on the slide. Suhad can't swim and once she reached the bottom, she started splashing around panicking that she was drowning. For those of you who know the HRH pool, it's not deep at all. The entire pool is very shallow and all Suhad had to do was stand up. Once she realized, she was fine and the kids and I couldn't contain our laughter - even Suhad was laughing at herself!

We liked the ambiance at HRH's pool but after about an hour and a half, we were ready to try out our own pool back at RPR. 2 water taxis later and we were back to our hotel.

Omar was particularly fond of the lei... he kept wearing it everywhere we went that day!


This is the first boat Qais has ever been on. He was seriously happy


Once back at RPR, we gathered our bags and ate some packed sandwiches from home while we waited for the text message saying our room was ready. We did finally get that message right at 4:00pm and we were put in Tower 1, floor 1. I did request tower 1 so we were glad about that, and being on the 1st floor was super convenient - we never used an elevator unless we had our suitcases with us. We got into the room and it was lovely and upgraded (I didn't take a picture but our room looked exactly like the one on the RPR thread). But we all noticed one thing right away... there was absolutely ZERO space for an air mattress . So please know that if you're in a standard room at RPR, chances are you will not be able to fit an air mattress... leave it at home!

Omar and I went and enjoyed a few rounds of ping pong/table tennis while Qais and Suhad stayed behind to unpack and unwind. We had a great time! I saw 3 ping pong tables outside by the pool. We chose the quiet little table by the bar near the water taxi drop off. It was a great location because we were right next to the free water . I beat Omar 3 times and decided I needed a dip in the pool after exerting all that energy. We returned to the room and changed into our suits.

Suhad, Qais and I enjoyed some pool time while Omar hit the gym. While at the pool, Qais befriended a very nice group of kids. A few older boys especially took Qais under his wing. I did have to translate rules of the game they were playing to him, but after that, he was busy running around and having a ball! We practically had to drag him out of the pool when it was time to go. After showers, we headed to CityWalk for some dinner via the water taxi.

When we got there, we had every intention of going to Cowfish. But Suhad didn't feel particularly moved by the menu . So Margaritaville it was. Omar ordered a cheeseburger, Qais a kids cheeseburger, Suhad got the chicken sandwich and I got a grouper sandwich.

Here's a pic of my grouper sandwich which had avocado and slaw.


Everyone was super happy with their choices except for maybe me. The grouper sandwich wasn't great but far from inedible. And the fries were great so that made up for it . Qais was mesmerized by the balloon animal men on stilts but sadly, none came to our table to make him anything. They definitely weren't very busy nor were they swamped with requests . We still enjoyed our time regardless.


Sorry that this part of the report wasn't all that exciting. Next up: A Magical Day in MK!

 

[macraven]

This info is too late now for you but to have the balloon peeps come to your table you tell your server
They would have directed them to your table

That is how we have always done it at there