We just got back from our family vacation! It was great!
We checked into Westgate Lakes on Tuesday afternoon. They were wonderful to us. Very friendly, brought our luggage up to our room for us, told us how to get free towels, gave us all our tickets for doing their timeshare tour, etc.
Tuesday evening we ate at Whispering Canyon Cafe with some friends who live in the area. Our 2 oldest boys were called upon to sing happy birthday to a 12 year old girl. I was made to ride a stick horse around the restaurant saying "I will not make for trouble" because I tried to get them to tease my hubby. The food was ok.... kinda expensived but lots of it. We ended up taking lots of leftovers home.
Wed. we went to Universal Studios. The weather was perfect for doing a theme park. Not too hot or too cold. We were able to do Slime Time Live first thing. It was very interesting. The Host of the show was very friendly and talked to us while we were standing in line. He was trying to figure out how to play the National Anthem on guitar while waiting for his turn to do his lines. The "scientist and his assistant" never did talk to any of the kids. Our 12 year old got hit in the face with a pie and thought it was great! After this we went on the twister ride. Our 8 year old daughter did not like it at all. She then refused to do Earthquake or Jaws.
We did watch the Blues Brothers show and Animal Planet show. We rode on ET, Back to the Future and Jimmy Neutron. Here is a tip.... do not eat a turkey leg and pretzel before riding Back to the future then Jimmy if you have a weak tummy. My poor dh ended up "loosing it" on the Jimmy Neutron ride. I felt so bad for him. I was impressed with the workers though. They got the ride stopped quickly and got him off. Then started the ride back up at the start of the count down. So the boys and I actually rode it twice in a row along with everyone else in there since it was very close to the end when hubby got ill. I would have gotten off with hubby but didn't want to leave our boys on there by theirself. Our daughter got off with daddy. We saw Scooby Doo and Shaggy right before the animal show. So our daughter got her picture taken with them. She is a huge Scooby fan. She even bought a big stuffed scooby that the Rugrats tried to keep when she had her picture taken with them later in the day.
After Universal we ate at Hard Rock Cafe. It was great! We bought their All Access pass for $25. This gets you seated right away plus gives you $20 in free merchandise. Since dh already planned on buying a shirt it was a great deal for us! Also once you get 200 points you get $20 cash. While there they had everyone stand up and sing the YMCA with motions. My 15 year old loved watching the waitresses up on the tables dancing. hehehe They also had everyone yelling "Happy Birthday" at those celebrating birthdays. By the end of the evening it was pouring down rain outside and windy.
Thursday was a yucky day with clouds, some rain and lots of wind. We ended up going to downtown disney shopping. Our kids love the lego store and spent quite a bit of their money there. We ate a late lunch at Bongo's Cuban Cafe. Nothing real heavy..... just sandwiches but they were good. Thursday night we went to the African Safari show at Westgate Lakes. The kids loved seeing all the big cats (Florida panther, Bengal tiger, Lion, and Black leopard). We bought 4 t-shirts so that we could all get pictures taken standing beside the cat of our choice. I chose the Florida panther since my kids didn't want that one and actually got to pet it!
Friday we checked out of Westgate Lakes and into Westgate River Ranch. AVOID that place at all costs till they get it fixed up! Westgate just aquired the property and have not done much yet to it. We were soooo upset and disappointed with it. *think, an old rundown motel 6 made out of cedar* YUCK! I called the 800 number for westgate and complained. The lady on the phone connected me with her supervisor who was shocked at what I told her the place was like. She told me to write a letter of complaint so that the owner realizes how this place looks to people. She also gave us 2 free adult tickets for the horse ride that our daughter really wanted to do. She would have transfered us back to Westgate Lakes if we wanted for a small fee but since dd wanted to ride horses we said no. We ended up driving 1.5 hours back to Orlando for dinner that night. We ate at Sweet Tomato. Dh, our oldest son and myself liked it. Our other 2 children weren't real happy with it.
Saturday was a much warmer day so we used our free pass provided by Westgate Lakes and went to Water Mania Water Park. The air was hot but the water was ice cold! Dh said he became a member of the polar bear club! LOL! The boys loved doing the "Wipe-out" boogie board ride there! They were getting pretty good at it. We had fun there then went to eat dinner at Angel's seafood buffet. I really wanted some crab legs and lobster but the rest of our family isnt' into seafood much. So this buffet was good for us.... all that is but our 8 year old who was overly tired. Nothing tasted good to her, she started crying when we asked her to eat some chicken before getting ice-cream. Our waiter was great and took off her meal. So we were not charged for her. After eating we went back to Downtown Disney where dd bought a child's guitar. DH bought everyone dessert from Gherideli's and we listened to some music being played by a concert band from NY.
Sunday we packed up and headed home. I would have love to have spent a few more days at Westgate Lakes. The room was wonderful and the staff very friendly. We did our timeshare presentation on Friday without any problems. The salesman, James, was not high pressure at all and very friendly. We spent more time just chatting than we did listening to his presentation.
Well, that was our vacation. When we asked our kids where they wanted to go next year they all said ORLANDO.
We checked into Westgate Lakes on Tuesday afternoon. They were wonderful to us. Very friendly, brought our luggage up to our room for us, told us how to get free towels, gave us all our tickets for doing their timeshare tour, etc.
Tuesday evening we ate at Whispering Canyon Cafe with some friends who live in the area. Our 2 oldest boys were called upon to sing happy birthday to a 12 year old girl. I was made to ride a stick horse around the restaurant saying "I will not make for trouble" because I tried to get them to tease my hubby. The food was ok.... kinda expensived but lots of it. We ended up taking lots of leftovers home.
Wed. we went to Universal Studios. The weather was perfect for doing a theme park. Not too hot or too cold. We were able to do Slime Time Live first thing. It was very interesting. The Host of the show was very friendly and talked to us while we were standing in line. He was trying to figure out how to play the National Anthem on guitar while waiting for his turn to do his lines. The "scientist and his assistant" never did talk to any of the kids. Our 12 year old got hit in the face with a pie and thought it was great! After this we went on the twister ride. Our 8 year old daughter did not like it at all. She then refused to do Earthquake or Jaws.
We did watch the Blues Brothers show and Animal Planet show. We rode on ET, Back to the Future and Jimmy Neutron. Here is a tip.... do not eat a turkey leg and pretzel before riding Back to the future then Jimmy if you have a weak tummy. My poor dh ended up "loosing it" on the Jimmy Neutron ride. I felt so bad for him. I was impressed with the workers though. They got the ride stopped quickly and got him off. Then started the ride back up at the start of the count down. So the boys and I actually rode it twice in a row along with everyone else in there since it was very close to the end when hubby got ill. I would have gotten off with hubby but didn't want to leave our boys on there by theirself. Our daughter got off with daddy. We saw Scooby Doo and Shaggy right before the animal show. So our daughter got her picture taken with them. She is a huge Scooby fan. She even bought a big stuffed scooby that the Rugrats tried to keep when she had her picture taken with them later in the day. After Universal we ate at Hard Rock Cafe. It was great! We bought their All Access pass for $25. This gets you seated right away plus gives you $20 in free merchandise. Since dh already planned on buying a shirt it was a great deal for us! Also once you get 200 points you get $20 cash. While there they had everyone stand up and sing the YMCA with motions. My 15 year old loved watching the waitresses up on the tables dancing. hehehe They also had everyone yelling "Happy Birthday" at those celebrating birthdays. By the end of the evening it was pouring down rain outside and windy.
Thursday was a yucky day with clouds, some rain and lots of wind. We ended up going to downtown disney shopping. Our kids love the lego store and spent quite a bit of their money there. We ate a late lunch at Bongo's Cuban Cafe. Nothing real heavy..... just sandwiches but they were good. Thursday night we went to the African Safari show at Westgate Lakes. The kids loved seeing all the big cats (Florida panther, Bengal tiger, Lion, and Black leopard). We bought 4 t-shirts so that we could all get pictures taken standing beside the cat of our choice. I chose the Florida panther since my kids didn't want that one and actually got to pet it!
Friday we checked out of Westgate Lakes and into Westgate River Ranch. AVOID that place at all costs till they get it fixed up! Westgate just aquired the property and have not done much yet to it. We were soooo upset and disappointed with it. *think, an old rundown motel 6 made out of cedar* YUCK! I called the 800 number for westgate and complained. The lady on the phone connected me with her supervisor who was shocked at what I told her the place was like. She told me to write a letter of complaint so that the owner realizes how this place looks to people. She also gave us 2 free adult tickets for the horse ride that our daughter really wanted to do. She would have transfered us back to Westgate Lakes if we wanted for a small fee but since dd wanted to ride horses we said no. We ended up driving 1.5 hours back to Orlando for dinner that night. We ate at Sweet Tomato. Dh, our oldest son and myself liked it. Our other 2 children weren't real happy with it.
Saturday was a much warmer day so we used our free pass provided by Westgate Lakes and went to Water Mania Water Park. The air was hot but the water was ice cold! Dh said he became a member of the polar bear club! LOL! The boys loved doing the "Wipe-out" boogie board ride there! They were getting pretty good at it. We had fun there then went to eat dinner at Angel's seafood buffet. I really wanted some crab legs and lobster but the rest of our family isnt' into seafood much. So this buffet was good for us.... all that is but our 8 year old who was overly tired. Nothing tasted good to her, she started crying when we asked her to eat some chicken before getting ice-cream. Our waiter was great and took off her meal. So we were not charged for her. After eating we went back to Downtown Disney where dd bought a child's guitar. DH bought everyone dessert from Gherideli's and we listened to some music being played by a concert band from NY.
Sunday we packed up and headed home. I would have love to have spent a few more days at Westgate Lakes. The room was wonderful and the staff very friendly. We did our timeshare presentation on Friday without any problems. The salesman, James, was not high pressure at all and very friendly. We spent more time just chatting than we did listening to his presentation.
Well, that was our vacation. When we asked our kids where they wanted to go next year they all said ORLANDO.
