I purchased the airfare - now what

[CMKN]

Hi everyone, I am hoping that the experts and novices alilke can help me as I do not know where to start. Let me give you a bit of background info:

We went to Disney this past Oct as probably our last family vacation as our kids are 18, 17, 15, & 13 - two days into our trip, my father in law passed away VERY unexpectedly. Needless to say, we rushed home and truth be told, DH later confessed to me that he now associated Disney with his Dad's passing and it would be a hard adjustment for him to go back there anytime soon - but he did want to go away somewhere new to us soon. I am very respectful of his wishes and also realize that he truly needs to get a way for a bit......

I would like to state that the following events that unfolded have still left me speacless, so I will just tell you what happened - I seemed to have come across either an unpublished special or maybe even a pricing error on Jetblue costing $202 roundtrip for two from NY to MCO. I opened another browser to see if it was a fluke and low and behold the price came up being $398 for the same exact times, flight, etc. Well the evil side of me took over and before you know it, the confirmation email dings my inbox

Albet, Michael still does not "know" about the trip for the end of next month, but I will say that if I even had one ounce of uncertainty, I truly would have never taken the blind leap of faith. So to get to my point (finally).....what next?? I spoke with my sister who has a timeshare in Orlando at the Marriott Grand Vista, and she checked availability and there is for a "lock-off" for the week we are going and she said I can make it up to her in babysitting and we also both won tickets from the Superbowl promotion. I also have enough points with mypoints for at least $125 worth of gift cards - but I do not know what restuarants are around that area.

So..........what is around the area, what is Universal like, do I need to make ressies anywhere (Michael loves creole and gumbo type food), how are the parks, how are the rides, etc??? I would appreciate any and all feedback and comments as I guess we are now the newbies to US.

 

[macraven]

Hi everyone, I am hoping that the experts and novices alilke can help me as I do not know where to start. Let me give you a bit of background info:

We went to Disney this past Oct as probably our last family vacation as our kids are 18, 17, 15, & 13 - two days into our trip, my father in law passed away VERY unexpectedly. Needless to say, we rushed home and truth be told, DH later confessed to me that he now associated Disney with his Dad's passing and it would be a hard adjustment for him to go back there anytime soon - but he did want to go away somewhere new to us soon. I am very respectful of his wishes and also realize that he truly needs to get a way for a bit......

I would like to state that the following events that unfolded have still left me speacless, so I will just tell you what happened - I seemed to have come across either an unpublished special or maybe even a pricing error on Jetblue costing $202 roundtrip for two from NY to MCO. I opened another browser to see if it was a fluke and low and behold the price came up being $398 for the same exact times, flight, etc. Well the evil side of me took over and before you know it, the confirmation email dings my inbox

Albet, Michael still does not "know" about the trip for the end of next month, but I will say that if I even had one ounce of uncertainty, I truly would have never taken the blind leap of faith. So to get to my point (finally).....what next?? I spoke with my sister who has a timeshare in Orlando at the Marriott Grand Vista, and she checked availability and there is for a "lock-off" for the week we are going and she said I can make it up to her in babysitting and we also both won tickets from the Superbowl promotion. I also have enough points with mypoints for at least $125 worth of gift cards - but I do not know what restuarants are around that area.

So..........what is around the area, what is Universal like, do I need to make ressies anywhere (Michael loves creole and gumbo type food), how are the parks, how are the rides, etc??? I would appreciate any and all feedback and comments as I guess we are now the newbies to US.

i'm not following you on a few things.
who is albert and michael?
are they the dh and one son?

will the trip be for the entire family, all 6 of you?
when are you traveling?


i found a link to the hotel here:

http://www.vacationclub.com/resorts/gv/default.jsp


it does have places near by where you can dine.


i did not check the site thoroughly so i don't know if they offer any shuttle service.

that is why i asked who is going on your vacation.


if you have 6 in your group, you might want to check out car service to get to the parks. maybe car rental would work if it would fit 6 people.

it states this hotel is 7 miles from universal.


i pulled up 3 different sites for the marriott grand vista resorts.
the one i listed above was the only one that mentioned time shares.

if this is not the place you are staying at, but will be at the one on international drive, you will be closer to many other restaurants and closer to universal.

i think that is super you found a fantastic deal on flights.
i have never heard of them that cheap. congratulations.

i'm sorry to hear about the unexpected death of your FIL last year.
that had to be a hard event to go through.
hopefully, going to universal will put a different spin on a florida trip for all of you.

 

[macraven]

if you need tickets for the others in your family, check out what is available on line.

http://www.universalorlando.com/tickets.html


you can also check back a few pages as there have been a few threads in the past month or 2 on purchasing tickets.

hth

 

[Halle]

It certainly sounds as if DH really needs to get away. Please let us know your plans and if the surprise went well with DH. Good luck and have a fun trip.

 

[patster734]

Hello CMKN,

Welcome to the Univeral side of the DIS boards!

First, please accept my deepest sympathy for the loss of your father-in-law. Hopefully, your upcoming trip will help with the healing process.

Second, congrats on getting a great price on airfare! Its always a blessing when a reduced rate is obtained!

Third, as for the hotel's location, there's good news and bad news. The good news is that its located near international drive where there are a lot of dining options. The bad news is that the hotel is kind of far from Universal, plus international drive can become very congested throughout the day.

Fourth, as for cajun type food (creole and gumbo), there is a Pat O'Brien's located at Citywalk. Allears.net has a 2 year old menu on their website: http://allears.net/uni/menu/men_pato.htm. Here's a list of other Cajun restuarants located in or near Orlando: http://orlando.citysearch.com/yellowpages/results/Orlando_FL/page1.html?flavor_id=2&cw1=16

 

[CMKN]

Thank you everyone for the replies - first allow me to say that my spelling leaves a lot to be desired and "albet" should have been "albeit" which makes me make more sense

Michael is my hubbie - I should refer to him as DH to keep things clear - sorry my bad!

It will be just the two of us as the kids are in school (two seniors this year ) and truth be told we have the time to just sneak away for a week.

Wow - I didn't realize International Drive could be a challenge - any tips on how to avoid the traffic snars?? You guys are wonderful and so resourceful - I try appreciate all the information. I am looking to tell DH on his b-day with is March 18th which is only 10 days before we leave so I hope he accepts it well
Thank you all again - the Dis rocks and I am loving the Universal side

 

[Metro West]

It certainly sounds as if DH really needs to get away. Please let us know your plans and if the surprise went well with DH. Good luck and have a fun trip.

 

[macraven]

Thank you everyone for the replies - first allow me to say that my spelling leaves a lot to be desired and "albet" should have been "albeit" which makes me make more sense

oops, i'm so embarrassed.........i really need to wear my glasses when reading some posts.


i thought i read a person's name, albert........

your spelling is wonderful.
i was the one that got it wrong.


i blame my blondeness....

 

[CMKN]

No worries - thank you so much for all the great info you provided. I plan on living in this neck of the woods for the next 6 weeks, so I will be reading each and every post. I am sooooooo looking forward to this get-a-way.

I just received confirmation from the hotel via email. I came across a great diser on ebay who was selling gift certificates for Universal as I was selling off certificates from Disney and we were able to do even swaps so I am super happy with that! I ordered a US book via a link I saw here a few days ago, and need I just need to go into overload mode to gather and absorb.

I started the hint dropping last night with DH and he was VERY receptive to it - stating "we really really really need some adult time alone"........ I will keep everyone posted as I don't know if I can hold off for another three (3) weeks.