I am here with two huge improvements!
One - Kidney stones are gone and I am functioning with a full brain, not on pain killers!!! Maybe
that actually is not a good thing because why use a full brain when a half brain will do?
In all seriousness - I had been assuming two weeks ago that my back was sore because of the folding chair and stupid desk I sit at which is not functional or approved of by any chiropractor! Then the day after my last post, knew something more than that was wrong and was elated to hear I did not have a kidney infection. Then not so much when the doc said I had several stones and plan on not being a happy camper for a few days plus!
Totally fine now but there was no way I was sitting at this desk for any amount of adoration or money. (Who am I kidding...for a few million I would have considered it but Donald Trump was not missing me here so tough bump!
)
Second huge improvement is my old trusty desktop decided she had her last breaths and on top of the fan running non stop on the tower which is enough to drive anyone batty, every time I posted anything, wrote anything on even an e-mail, it would cycle and cycle and sit and sit and there was no hope in uploading pics so I was not having any luck writing here until last night. It was then that Dan, talked with the internet people we have service through and they advised him on dumping and consolidating a few things on here that took almost 3 hours to complete but...voila! I can type and write and post and the only thing that still stinks is that stupid fan running.
I had Thanksgiving here and my sister, when Baylor was on the computer in my office, asked who was using a hair dryer!!!
I am thinking of using cotton balls in my ears until I purchase my new laptop with tax money!!!
Anywho - Here sis a few vacation tips and updates:
We are two weeks away from our December trip with my sister. We are staying off site now after number crunching and re-analyzing the stay at FW Cabins with 6 adults. I found a site through a friend who lives in Naples and travels to WDW often called hotels.com. They offer discounted rates on resorts, villas and hotels and as the time gets closer, some locations finally offer up non booked rooms cheap and others will keep reducing their rates. Swan/Dolphin just opened up for $140 a night (40% savings) for the dates of our trip but since we have 6 people, we would still need two rooms.
Many places in Kissimmee area or surrounding WDW, charge these $8-$15 per night resort fees which I think is bunk. We found a time share location that is ranked high by others on Trip Advisor and other review sites for $88 per night (no resort fees) if I paid in advance and agreed not to have a refund if I cancelled. The villa has all new granite countertops/kitchen upgrade, just 3 miles from Disney, a master suite with king bed, whirlpool tub and double size shower! I will let you all know how the place is when we get back but it gives us double the room and solved the issue I was having with
free dining in exchange for the two day tickets we would have needed to buy to get free dining, which we did not need.
It has basketball courts, tennis courts, shuffle board a small mini golf course for free to use for guests. A huge walking path around a lake and several pools and hot tubs also will be nice to use. We lose out on the EMH but other than that, there was no negatives as we were renting a vehicle anyway. Traveling with 6 adults makes it really expensive to stay at WDW and as much as I love the thought of FT. Wilderness cabins, I think it might have ended up causing some fights with one bathroom, Dan at 6'6 stuck in a full size bed and the only other option was to get two hotel rooms or a villa through DVC and that was spendy as well.
This was also a ton cheaper than anything we found on VRBO as well when you calculated cleaning fees and taxes into whatever people were charging for, plus many only had one bathroom for a condo if it was within a decent price range.
We will eat out once a day plus snacks but the full kitchen will make late night eating and breakfasts more achievable than any hotel room would have allowed us to do!
We also are flying
with the saved money but here is a tip that I just discovered. When you book your airfare...look at airports a few hours away and you might cut your flights down in price by a ton.
We are driving to Des Moines (4 hours away) because the flights were under $200 round trip, with a connecting in Minneapolis. If I booked a direct from Minneapolis to MCO, the same flight was almost $330! So on the way back, most of us will just get off in Minneapolis and not take the connecting to Des Moines and Dan will fly the last leg alone and pick up the car to drive home. How stupid is that though? Why the heck is a direct flight $130 more expensive when there is no connecting fees and less fuel etc.? They said we had to get on in Des Moines though for the trip down to MCO because if you do not show on your 1st part of the flight, they can cancel your seat and give it to someone else, otherwise I would just get on here in Minneapolis. Still working on how I can get around that if at all possible!
For 5 of us, we saved $650 booking it this way and the gas will cost about $80!
FYI: Treyner and Carsyn will be coming home next Wednesday and I am so excited to get our Christmas tree with all of them here to pick it out!
Okay...up next Crystal Palace Breakfast!!
Darn cell phones!
