Get yer lugs on we're going to Disney - July 16 TR (update 8/11) Football and Chili's

[Princess Leia]

That is an incredible price jump.

It is eye-watering! Meanwhile pay doesn't go up while pension contributions, national insurance and professional dues have all increased considerably so take home pay is a lot less than a couple of years ago.

But you certainly had a good reason to stay!

It was definitely worth staying in the park for. I just should have changed some of the later plans.

I had to Google (then later saw you mentioned shoes) are they very popular on your side of the pond?

They certainly were last year - I think they are still popular. It's funny they are quite old school in terms of styling.

Kid gets cash... spends on clothes....

He's reached the fashion conscious stage and needs different shoes to go with different outfits.

Meh. You're on holidays. Eat whenever you want.

No problem eating when I want on holiday just I wanted to eat earlier!

Those look huge! No wonder you shared!

They were far too big. I don't get it there must be a lot of waste.

 

[pkondz]

It is eye-watering! Meanwhile pay doesn't go up while pension contributions, national insurance and professional dues have all increased considerably so take home pay is a lot less than a couple of years ago.

Ouch. And I get it.

It was definitely worth staying in the park for. I just should have changed some of the later plans.

You get to a certain point where you "just want to get it done" and can't seem to vary from that.

They certainly were last year - I think they are still popular. It's funny they are quite old school in terms of styling.

Retro is in, I guess.

He's reached the fashion conscious stage and needs different shoes to go with different outfits.

With his hair coiffed just so.

No problem eating when I want on holiday just I wanted to eat earlier!

They were far too big. I don't get it there must be a lot of waste.

Hmmm... I will withhold commenting on that. I have thoughts... but... don't want to offend anyone.

 

[Princess Leia]

October has gotten crazy busy recently. The crowds have definitely picked up but it is a great time to visit. I'm taking my grandkids down in November/December this year for the holiday decorations.

There seems to be a lot going on and the weather looks great. I'm sure your grandchildren will enjoy the trip. What age are they?

Hmmm... I will withhold commenting on that. I have thoughts... but... don't want to offend anyone.

Very diplomatic of you!

I never feel guilty for leaving food behind anymore. If you eat beyond full, you pay for it in compromised health and well, I just feel gross if I eat past full.

Our portions don't tend to be this large. I would agree about eating beyond the point of enjoyment.

 

[pkondz]

Very diplomatic of you!

That's my middle name!

"you".

 

[Princess Leia]

That's my middle name!

"you".

You too?

 

[tazdev3225]

There seems to be a lot going on and the weather looks great. I'm sure your grandchildren will enjoy the trip. What age are they?

I love October and there is a lot to experience just can get a tad busy. There are actually 21 people in total on the trip. My grandkids will be 2, 3, 8 (turning 9 the day after we come home), 10, 11, 13 and 19. There will also be another 2 year old, 10 year old and 11 year old. Yes I am crazy. As soon as I can think of a title I will be starting the pre trip/trip report. I have been working on it and including some past trips that led to this one. I also need to finish my other TR's too. Something to keep me busy.

 

[Princess Leia]

There are actually 21 people in total on the trip. My grandkids will be 2, 3, 8 (turning 9 the day after we come home), 10, 11, 13 and 19. There will also be another 2 year old, 10 year old and 11 year old. Yes I am crazy.

Wow that's a good few grandkids. That size of group is going to take some organising. Good luck with that! Maybe it's not any worse than a trip with your mother. we'll find out in due course.

 

[Princess Leia]

Quick update

We are just back in from a meal to celebrate Hannah’s success with her exams. The long awaited results arrived this morning at 8am by text. It is good to see her hard work rewarded. She is particularly pleased that she does not need to do any more maths. I am pleased to report that I did not do the ‘Feeling Proud’ parent post on Facebook. Instead I got her a card and flowers and told her how pleased I was for her. We went to a lovely little Mexican restaurant. The chicken fajitas were fabulous. The chicken is marinated in tequila, triple sec and lime juice. I had the most amazing dessert – cinnamon tortilla chips drizzled with honey with vanilla ice-cream. They were so light and delicious.

This week Hannah has been involved as a leader in our church’s summer club. She is really loving working with the children and is full of chatter about what they have been doing. She would like a career that involves working with children and I think that will be a good choice.

 

[Mac Brew]

Great news about the exam results, always a relief when you get the results that you have worked so hard to get congratulations to Hannah.Allways a great feeling when one of your own does very well.Would have never have thought to have crisps ( tortilla chips ) and ice cream as a pudding. There again we have wafers with ice cream.Nice to get some time to celebrate together.No more maths as well.

 

[tazdev3225]

Congrats. I know the feeling. My daughter took her last final yesterday and got an "A". She graduates from nursing school and attended while dealing with 2 babies. Her youngest boys are 2 & 3. I wanted to post on Facebook too but refrained. I am giving her a huge graduation party instead.

 

[afwdwfan]

Wow... definitely a late evening! Going to Wal Mart on vacation always seems to take longer than it should. I always avoid it if I can. I know sometimes you need things, but Wal Mart on my vacation time is always just a downer.

Dinner looks like it was good, even if it was incredibly late!

Congratulations Hannah!

 

[pkondz]

We are just back in from a meal to celebrate Hannah’s success with her exams. The long awaited results arrived this morning at 8am by text. It is good to see her hard work rewarded.

Great! You don't specifically say, but I presume she did well.

She is particularly pleased that she does not need to do any more maths.

Aren't we all!

We went to a lovely little Mexican restaurant.

Nice! Sounds yummy.

This week Hannah has been involved as a leader in our church’s summer club. She is really loving working with the children and is full of chatter about what they have been doing. She would like a career that involves working with children and I think that will be a good choice.

Sounds very much like my eldest DD. She's starting her 3rd year of university this fall with being a teacher the final goal.

 

[Princess Leia]

Great news about the exam results, always a relief when you get the results that you have worked so hard to get congratulations to Hannah

Congratulations Hannah!

Great! You don't specifically say, but I presume she did well.

Thanks everyone on Hannah's behalf - yes she did well and passed everything with good grades. It is the next level that she will sit this coming May that will be needed for university entry. Although certain specified grades in English and Maths at this level are needed for entry to university courses. She has the grades she needs to study the subjects she has chosen for school next session. Although you can leave school at the end of 5th year most young people now leave at the end of 6th year.

Congrats. I know the feeling. My daughter took her last final yesterday and got an "A". She graduates from nursing school and attended while dealing with 2 babies. Her youngest boys are 2 & 3. I wanted to post on Facebook too but refrained. I am giving her a huge graduation party instead.

She has done really well - juggling the demands of the course and presumably placements. I think congratulations on graduating nursing school would be perfectly fine to post on social media.

Aren't we all!

That seems to be the consensus. I dropped maths at the first opportunity when I realised I didn't need Higher maths for entry into my degree. I was conned though as I hadn't realised that the way our timetable worked I had to do some pointless maths modules. I ended up having to do a year of Calculus. It would have been better to have completed my Higher maths and ended up with a worthwhile qualification.

Would have never have thought to have crisps ( tortilla chips ) and ice cream as a pudding. There again we have wafers with ice cream

They were a different taste and texture from Tortilla chips almost a pastry like texture.They tasted quite like Churros. Very tasty!

Nice! Sounds yummy.

It was!

Wow... definitely a late evening! Going to Wal Mart on vacation always seems to take longer than it should. I always avoid it if I can. I know sometimes you need things, but Wal Mart on my vacation time is always just a downer.

That Walmart always is so busy. I tend to avoid going to the supermarket if I can help it - you notice I opted for the outlet mall with Peter.

Sounds very much like my eldest DD. She's starting her 3rd year of university this fall with being a teacher the final goal.

Will she do the teaching qualification as part of her current course or will she do it later as a post graduate course?

 

[Steppesister]

Big congrats are due from here as well. Excellent news and so happy for her. Yes, hard work generally pays off and I'm glad she can see the reward for a job well done!

 

[Princess Leia]

Real life update - Other holiday destinations are available (Tenerife July 2017)

This year we did not go to WDW. Aww! Instead we went to Tenerife. Why Tenerife I hear you say? As many of you know Peter loves a water park. On our first trip to WDW it was the water parks that he was most looking forward to. This was the boy who first went on Summit Plummet when he was 6 years old. He researched water parks and I had to watch endless Youtube videos of water slides. Siam Park has been rated as the best water park in the world on Trip Advisor. We were happy to grant Peter’s request. I was interested to see if Siam Park could equal the Orlando water parks.

Tenerife is the largest of the Canary Islands. We have been to two of the other Canary Islands - Lanzarote and Fuerteventura. The Canary Islands are a popular winter destination for Brits as although they are Spanish islands they are quite far South and are just off the West Coast of Africa. We had booked a 2 bedroom/ 2 bathroom apartment in Costa Adeje in the South of the island.

We live about 10 miles from an international airport but we had made the decision to book flights from Manchester airport which is about 230 miles away. The reason we did that was that the flights were nearly £700 more to fly from our home airport. The drive to Manchester is about 4 hours but things got tight as the car park we had booked was a bit away from the airport and traffic was slow. We normally book Meet and Greet parking but there have been some horror stories in the news recently about cars being dumped in local roads or taken for long drives. The car park was huge and we had to search lots of different sections before finding a space. We then had to wait at one of the many bus stops to get a shuttle bus to the airport. Security at the airport was very busy. The flight to Tenerife was 4 hours 40 minutes. We had pre-booked our car hire and we were able to pick up our car quickly. I had put the directions that had been e-mailed to me on my iPad so it was to hand. Things were going well but there was an error in the final part of the directions and we ended up driving round up and down lots of narrow roads and having to do lots of impossibly turns in narrow dead-ends. After a while we phoned the contact number and someone arrived to guide us the final part. We realised that we had been very near at one stage. A housekeeper was waiting outside the apartment complex and took us up to our apartment. She quickly showed us around the apartment and pointed out that the toilet in the ensuite was not working so we would need to contact the owner. We needed to pay €20 to the housekeeper as there was a late arrival fee for after 10pm and by the time she left it was just after 10pm.

Alan quickly got to work and fashioned a flush mechanism for the toilet from a wire coat hanger. Quite the indoor Bear Grylls!



The next morning Alan headed out early to the local supermarket but soon texted that it wasn’t open yet as it was a Sunday and it didn’t open until 9am. Once Alan returned we all pounced on the drinks. We enjoyed a breakfast of warm chocolate croissants, fresh orange juice and I’m looking at the receipt, Sandia Rayada...water melon. We sat out on the terrace. On holiday we like to eat outside as much as possible.

You can see from this photo our elevated position.



That first day was lovely and relaxed. We had no Fast Passes or ADRS so things were slow paced. We unpacked and got set up for our 2 weeks. We got connected with the wi-fi which was very good. Alan made another couple of trips to the supermarket. The lilos and beach ball were inflated and I headed down to the swimming pool with Hannah and Peter. When we arrived we were met with a security guard kitted out with handcuffs and a large baton. He checked our pool card and then asked our apartment number which I couldn’t remember. He started pointing at the lilos and told us "No Possible".He made us put our banned items at the gate. We went over and got some loungers. Later on we retrieved our banned items as they were not in sight. The security guard appeared out of nowhere and started gesticulating towards the sign. We tried to explain but it was very funny.



Later on I retrieved the beach ball as it kept blowing away. As soon as I got hold of it to deflate it the security guard hurried over and started shouting. I kept going, trying to demonstrate that I was taking the air out of it. He started pointing at the sign again. This poor man was getting very worked up. He pointed at the inflatable ring a young child was wearing but his mother just argued back in Spanish and just stayed in the pool. I don’t think I would have been so brave. Anyway that was the only time we encountered the security guard during our stay.

 

[afwdwfan]

Alan quickly got to work and fashioned a flush mechanism for the toilet from a wire coat hanger. Quite the indoor Bear Grylls!

Having a working toilet is essential to survival!

You can see from this photo our elevated position.

Beautiful view!

They don't allow anything there! I'm surprised there's not a number 14 stating "No fun."

 

[Princess Leia]

Big congrats are due from here as well. Excellent news and so happy for her. Yes, hard work generally pays off and I'm glad she can see the reward for a job well done!

Thanks - as a parent it is always a relief. Next year she will go from 8 to 5 subjects so hopefully that will be a bit more manageable. She had to spend a disproportionate amount of time on her maths so hopefully some of her other subjects can get a better share of study time.

Having a working toilet is essential to survival!

Yes, especially for indoor Bear Grylls types like us.

Beautiful view!

It was lovely at all times of day.

They don't allow anything there! I'm surprised there's not a number 14 stating "No fun."

I think that was implicit. I had to tell Peter off as when the security guard disappeared Peter went up to the rules boards and started doing an impersonation of him. He was in full flow when he appeared again out of nowhere.

 

[MickeyReeds]

I've just read your report over the last two days and have really enjoyed it! Our adults only trip to DisneyWorld ended on the 4th of July last year, just as you arrived. I'm a teacher too and have to start back to school next week. I'm really sad that summer break is over, but excited to see what the next class will bring!

 

[Princess Leia]

Day 3 in Tenerife

We decided we would visit a local beach. Mid morning we headed out to Playa de las Vistas. It took some time to find a vacant parking space and we drove round and round different car parks and streets. As ‘chief space spotter’ I watched for any signs of people returning to their cars. After a few false alarms we finally got a space a street back from the beach. Parking difficulties became a recurring theme on this holiday. We headed down some stairs to the beach. Playa de las Vistas is a blue flag beach with sand imported from the Sahara desert. Peter quickly spotted the inflatable water park. We went over to find out more. The cost for unlimited access for the day was €15 a person. I thought this was good value. Even better was that Hannah was old enough to be the supervising adult. I handed over the money, Hannah and Peter put on the compulsory life jackets, and swam out to the water park.

I managed to get a few photos.

Peter was in his element.





He's off leaving Hannah in his wake!



Peter got himself on this piece of equipment with relative ease. He has pretty good upper body strength. Hannah tried to figure out how to join him.



Let's see if she can get on. This could be interesting!



This is the moment when Peter landed on Hannah's head.



Fortunately she survived and managed to swim back to shore.



We checked she was OK and apart from an aching head she seemed to be OK. We took a break for lunch. Hannah and Peter were keen to go for lunch at Restaurante McDonald's. This seemed to be a popular spot. We ordered at one of the screens. We managed to get a table at an outside table with a large parasol. We were able to choose potato wedges instead of fries which was good. I have to say this was one of the best McDonald's I've had. The food was hot and fresh probably due to the volume of sales.

After lunch Peter was keen to get back out to the water park. We made sure to reapply sun cream on both of them.



After a bit he persuaded Hannah to join him.



Goodness knows how he managed to get up there!



We moved our towels back as the tide was coming in. A tourist board representative stopped to ask us if we would answer a few questions. She had blocked our view and we were caught out by the tide suddenly engulfing our towels. Fantastic, we now had soggy sand covered towels. Lovely!

Late afternoon we headed back to our apartment and got freshened up. It was good having 2 bathrooms.





It was our 20th wedding anniversary and we wanted to go out for a meal. I picked out a couple of possibilities based on reviews on Trip Advisor and noted some details. We headed out in the car and after a bit found a car parking space as it came free. We ended up having a bit of a walk. We were able to use our mobile phone to get us walking directions to one of the restaurants. The chinese restaurant we chose was the Pekin Garden. This turned out to be an excellent choice. We were invited to choose our table and we opted to sit outside overlooking the marina.



Hannah and Peter chose their favourite - chicken and pineapple. Alan had fried chilli chicken. We all had egg fried rice. I decided to try something different from my usual choices. I chose chicken in a cantonese sauce which had a fruity flavour. It came sizzling to the table. I enjoyed this but probably wouldn't choose it again as it didn't really have enough spice for my liking.



The food in this restaurant was really lovely and fresh. The staff were lovely. They were friendly and attentive. The waiter brought us a complimentary portion of spring rolls. At the end of the meal he brought out a bottle of Peach scnapps and poured out a couple. He came back and refilled the little glasses. On the way home we picked up some ice creams and had them out on the terrace.

Hannah and Peter had managed to get sunburn on their shoulders and back despite our best efforts of covering them in 50+ waterproof sunscreen and reapplying it. I told them that this was the reason I had made them wear UV suits for all those years. Water and sun are a lethal combination.

 

[rdkeim]

Really enjoying reading about your Disney and non-Disney travels! My grandparents came to the US from Scotland in the 1920's - they were from Glasgow. Love reading about your life in Scotland too!