Family, friends, teachers & Stacy too! - The End 9/27 page 14

[DisMomAmy]

After swimming for a little bit, it was time to head to Downtown Disney! We had a dinner ADR at 5pm. We also needed to stop at Guest Relations to activate the AP vouchers we had for me & Zach, purchase a new Tables in Wonderland card and stop at the Photopass desk next door to pick up our Photopass Plus card. We were also able to convert Tim & Alex's Undercover Tourist tickets to the new RFID tickets while we were there. The kids also wanted to shop a little bit. This year we made them save their $5 allowance every week for several weeks leading up to our trip. They would be using their own money for any purchases they wanted to make on the trip. I have to say it worked out really well! Neither of them found anything they wanted to buy at Downtown Disney that day. There were several items they liked and would have begged us for if we were buying, but knowing it was their own money, they opted to wait and see what else they might find during the trip with the promise that we could easily return to DTD if they decided they wanted something there. We never returned to DTD after that night.

After shopping and dealing with our errands, we headed over to T-Rex. We were about 15 minutes early but they were able to seat us right away. It was a decent meal and a fun way to start the trip. I think we’ll be back. The kids loved it!



I felt bad for these people sitting below that dinosaur. It kept leaning down and roaring at them while they ate!


















Pardon the glowing eyes…


After dinner we went back to the villa, showered & headed to bed. We had an early morning the next day! I really liked what we did with our arrival day. We often hit a park on the first day because our villa isn't ready when we arrive. It was nice to check-in, get some groceries, swim and enjoy a nice meal at DTD.

Up next: Our first park day – Epcot AND Animal Kingdom!​

 

[ddluvsdisney]

Looked like a great arrival day. Whenever we stay off property we don't do a park. We swim shop and relax so we get an early start the next morning too. Always works best for us.
The boys love TRex! It's fun.

 

[MeMom]

Fun start to the trip!

You had a great room location right across from the 'fun' building and pool.

Spending one's own money does require more thought than blowing through someone else's!

 

[mommytothreeboys]

Sounds like a nice first day! I'm glad all of your requests were met.

Looks like the boys were really happy to be in Florida!

It is definitely a different story when the kids have to spend their own money! They really think through their purchases a lot more when it's coming out of their pocket!

I'm glad Snowy is feeling better!

 

[carissanboys]

I'm here, subscribed, and caught up!

Your villa looked lovely! We enjoyed our meal at T-Rex, but not sure I'd go back. It was so loud in there.

Look forward to more.

 

[wiigirl]

great pics!

 

[MEK]

I went searching for you and yeah it didn't take me long to find your TR. Sorry I didn't realize you had already started.

12 nights! That is just awesome!

Love your villa. It's really beautiful and I am glad that the whole "not moving" thing worked out better for you.

So how long does it really take to drive from Tampa to Orlando. Total time - once you get off the plan, get the rental car, and actually get near Disney world (don't count the food stop). I was trying to talk Denny into flying to TPA in June because we would arrive on site a little earlier. He is not convinced, but I can still change things around if I decide to. I noticed the rental cars are cheaper.

Anyway - great start. Really looking forward to your TR!

 

[KathyRN137]

I can see why you enjoy staying at this timeshare; the villa is so spacious and airy! So glad you didn't need to pack up and move during your stay!

I wonder if Billy would like T-Rex? He wasn't too keen on all the loud noise at Rainforest Cafe, but that was several years ago.


Kathy

 

[ddluvsdisney]

I can see why you enjoy staying at this timeshare; the villa is so spacious and airy! So glad you didn't need to pack up and move during your stay!

I wonder if Billy would like T-Rex? He wasn't too keen on all the loud noise at Rainforest Cafe, but that was several years ago.

Kathy

It is loud in TRex.

 

[KatMark]

I am glad your kitty is all better.

Lovely timeshare/condo....the rooms look really huge.

Too bad about the "previous" tenants.

Looks like the boys were having a blast swimming.

 

[MEK]

I wanted to add something I thought about for your kitty. I couldn't remember the brand name the other day (which is silly because this is the only cat food I buy).

Friskies makes a canned cat food that says: Special diet. To maintain urinary health. Low magnesium formulation.

Anyway - my cat Max has FUS (Feline Urologic syndrome) and he had one very bad UTI with stones many years ago. I switched him to this and he never had another problem. All my cats eat it. I highly recommend it to prevent future stones.

Walmart carries it in one flavor. Acme also carries. Not sure which other stores you have up there.

 

[eandesmom]

Really nice arrival day! Love getting settled first, that is the best start to a trip when you can do that I think. Stealing the batteries, wow. That's sad.

I find it works so much better when the boys have a budget to work with and have to stick to it, it really cuts down on the impulse buys and requests...amazing how they can be patient after all when it is their money!

We've never dined at TRex. I hear pretty good things about the food but the noise in general would make me nuts I think.

 

[DisMomAmy]

Looked like a great arrival day. Whenever we stay off property we don't do a park. We swim shop and relax so we get an early start the next morning too. Always works best for us.
The boys love TRex! It's fun.

After getting up at 3:30am we needed a day to get settled!

Fun start to the trip!

You had a great room location right across from the 'fun' building and pool.

Spending one's own money does require more thought than blowing through someone else's!

The room location turned out to be great! Next time we go back, I will request two buildings down... there are three more pools further down (one with a slide) that you'll hear about in this report. They are within walking distance but it would be nice to be a tad closer. They also have a Marketplace that is near those three other pools.

Sounds like a nice first day! I'm glad all of your requests were met.

Looks like the boys were really happy to be in Florida!

It is definitely a different story when the kids have to spend their own money! They really think through their purchases a lot more when it's coming out of their pocket!

I'm glad Snowy is feeling better!

I think the only souvenirs we bought for the boys were the Star Wars build your own droids and I bought them each a stuffed animal on the last day (without them knowing). It worked out REALLY well!

Thanks about Snowy! I'm so glad he's feeling better. I think he was sick for a while because he'd lost some weight but lately he's been eating non stop!

I'm here, subscribed, and caught up!

Your villa looked lovely! We enjoyed our meal at T-Rex, but not sure I'd go back. It was so loud in there.

Look forward to more.

T-Rex definitely was loud! Not a peaceful kind of loud like Rainforest Cafe.. but we liked it. Maybe we were half asleep!

great pics!

Thank you!

I went searching for you and yeah it didn't take me long to find your TR. Sorry I didn't realize you had already started.

12 nights! That is just awesome!

Love your villa. It's really beautiful and I am glad that the whole "not moving" thing worked out better for you.

So how long does it really take to drive from Tampa to Orlando. Total time - once you get off the plan, get the rental car, and actually get near Disney world (don't count the food stop). I was trying to talk Denny into flying to TPA in June because we would arrive on site a little earlier. He is not convinced, but I can still change things around if I decide to. I noticed the rental cars are cheaper.

Anyway - great start. Really looking forward to your TR!

I'm glad you went looking for me too!

Tampa to Orlando... I'd say right around an hour in the car. Our flight arrived right around 10am. The rental car receipt says 10:26am. We drove through McDonald's at 11:04 but that was after driving for a short time. The next receipt I have is for Publix when I checked out at 1:34. That was after we had checked in & put our luggage in the room.

Mapquest says 1 hour 22 minutes from the Airport to our timeshare resort. I don't think it has ever taken us that long. I hope that helps.

I can see why you enjoy staying at this timeshare; the villa is so spacious and airy! So glad you didn't need to pack up and move during your stay!

I wonder if Billy would like T-Rex? He wasn't too keen on all the loud noise at Rainforest Cafe, but that was several years ago.


Kathy

There is a gift shop inside. I'm sure you could go in far enough to see what it's like. We were there early & didn't need a reservation (even though we had one). It is loud but it wasn't so loud we couldn't talk to each other. The Meteor Shower happens every 20 minutes. I don't think we were trying to talk during that. There is definitely a lot to look at!

It is loud in TRex.

I am glad your kitty is all better.

Lovely timeshare/condo....the rooms look really huge.

Too bad about the "previous" tenants.

Looks like the boys were having a blast swimming.

Thanks Kathy! The timeshare condo really is huge! That's why we keep going back! There were a bunch of pools that the kids go to enjoy. It's a great resort.

 

[DisMomAmy]

I wanted to add something I thought about for your kitty. I couldn't remember the brand name the other day (which is silly because this is the only cat food I buy).

Friskies makes a canned cat food that says: Special diet. To maintain urinary health. Low magnesium formulation.

Anyway - my cat Max has FUS (Feline Urologic syndrome) and he had one very bad UTI with stones many years ago. I switched him to this and he never had another problem. All my cats eat it. I highly recommend it to prevent future stones.

Walmart carries it in one flavor. Acme also carries. Not sure which other stores you have up there.

Thanks for the info Mary Ellen! We're not totally sure if it was crystals or an infection. They gave him medicine for both (since we were going to be away). Either way, whatever it was had been bothering him for a while. He was almost 17 pounds when we took him for his check up in the fall. The vet wanted him down to closer to 15. Over the winter he lost between 3-4 pounds. Now all of a sudden he is eating like crazy! I'll look into that food. Thanks!

Really nice arrival day! Love getting settled first, that is the best start to a trip when you can do that I think. Stealing the batteries, wow. That's sad.

I find it works so much better when the boys have a budget to work with and have to stick to it, it really cuts down on the impulse buys and requests...amazing how they can be patient after all when it is their money!

We've never dined at TRex. I hear pretty good things about the food but the noise in general would make me nuts I think.

It was very nice to have a day to get settled.

It was pretty crazy that people would steal the batteries from the remote! They must have been on a tight budget!

The souvenir plan worked so well! They are really enjoying the items they decided to buy.

T-Rex was fun. Definitely loud but still fun.

 

[DisMomAmy]

Day 2 – Thursday, April 18th

We had two park days before Tim’s brother, Jeff & his wife, Karen, were coming to stay with us for two nights. We (I) decided that we should hit all four parks in these two days & not worry about getting tired since we had a pool day planned for Saturday and a lazy morning for Sunday. Today we would start our day at Epcot, enjoy a nice lunch at Le Cellier, and then head right to Animal Kingdom. AK was open until 7pm so it wouldn’t be a late night.

We were up by 7:00 and ready to go by 8:15am.


Not the best shot… but you get the idea!


When we arrived, we started our trend of being sent to the very end of the row in the parking lot. Luckily we were in one of the front rows so we didn’t have too far to walk. This was a joke for the whole trip. As we’d pull into a lot & see that we were going to be sent to the end, we’d say, “Off to the official XXX family parking spot!”

We made our way through bag check & found a short line to stand in and waited to enter the park. We were there plenty early and had a bit of a wait to enter the park. I didn’t notice the exact time, but luckily they started letting people in before 9:00. We had a mission & were planning to head right to Test Track… but wait, who is that??










After a brief stop to see Daisy (with no line), we were on our way. It was a beautiful day!










Zach’s car…


Alex’s car…


The boys really liked the ride & didn’t realize that it was on the same track. Tim & I liked the updates. I think I would have been disappointed if I hadn’t already heard that the ride followed the same track as before.

After stopping at the PP desk to get our picture, we went over to Innoventions to ride Sum of All Thrills.


Tim & I rode with each of the boys once, then the boys rode together.















The verdict?




Continued…​

 

[DisMomAmy]

Continued from previous post…

Back over to Test Track… and we saw the Jammitors!


Our second ride on Test Track:


Zach’s car…


Alex’s car…


After a second run on Test Track we went over to the Land, but not before a quick snack. It’s never too early for a popsicle on vacation, right? Alex picked up an Itzakadoozie popsicle and we found Zach a frozen lemonade. We made our way into the Land and Tim decided he was hungry. It was getting too close to lunch for a big breakfast (which we love doing at Sunshine Seasons) so Tim bought a nice healthy snack… a bag of chips & a coke! After filling some bellies, we took a ride on Soarin’! We got the top row, middle section! The kids were thrilled. After Soarin’ it was time to head toward the World Showcase for lunch. I didn’t take any pictures… but our lunch was great. We checked in right before noon, got to hear the CMs sing O Canada. We were seated right away & sat in the same seats we sat in last time we were there, in the Newfoundland section.

After lunch we worked our way out of the park to our official parking space & headed to Animal Kingdom!








Last summer Alex was diagnosed with a kidney condition & has to drink 2-3 liters of water per day. Before our trip, I was trying to figure out how to make that happen without constantly buying bottled water, or having to carry around a cooler. A couple of my facebook friends suggested we try a Camelbak. This backpack worked out really well! Alex had finished his water by lunch time & we had a refill in the car for him. We filled it up & he was good to go for the afternoon. It was perfect for Disney!




Up next: Animal Kingdom​

 

[mommytothreeboys]

LOVE, LOVE this update! My favorite park!

We enjoyed the Test Track updates as well. I was skeptical as I had seen pics and wasn't impressed. But, we really liked the design aspect of the ride and had "competitions" to see who could design the better car! I'm glad you all enjoyed it as well! Love the cars the boys designed!

One of these days we are going to try Le Cellier. Jeff and I are discussing a possible second honeymoon of sorts for our 25th anniversary in 2017....maybe then!

4 parks in 2 days! You go girl!

 

[eandesmom]

I love the Monsters University topiaries! SO cute.

Nice day so far, over Tim's healthy snack.

 

[MEK]

Thanks for the information about the drive from Tampa. It sounds very straightforward and you had your rental car in no time.

Woo hoo for an early arrival to Epcot! And two rides of Test Track. Glad that everyone liked. I am looking forward to riding it this summer.

And another woo hoo for front & center on Soarin! What a productive morning at Epcot.

I like that you decided to use a camelback. What a great idea.

Great pictures of the boys!

 

[bluejasmine]

Loving it!!

ASMU/POR Dec 16-22, 2012 & POFQ Sept 8-15, 2013