I Told You Driving Was Bad For Your Health! *2/2* NEW TRIP REPORT LINK P102

[Poolrat]

Drat! Foiled again. I think its the worst when you just miss someone by a few days.

I am trying to swing an extra day on the front and the back and I STILL miss you by just over 24 hours.

 

[annmarieda]

I can imagine that being an empty nester is a bit of a shock. We are down by only two and it is a bit shocking.

Yay for the waitlist coming through! I still don't completely understand the waitlist... but I assume it has to do with a room you wanted not being available at time of booking that opens up. Then you can switch your resie to that room, right?

That flight sounds very scary!

Looks like there was a lot of rain on your arrival night! Glad you found your resort ok though!

I am not sure what is worse... missing RD entirely or making it just in time to get only a glimpse.

Cant wait to find out where you headed to....

 

[Disney9.9.10]

All caught up! Poor Max, I hope that he is doing better now!

Wow, that is a lot of rain on your arrival day! Boo, rain! Your resort is really pretty - looks like a great place for a run!

Your AP parking snafu is a real bummer. At least you got to see some of the opening show and got into the park at a decent hour, but it would have been nice to get their smoothly and a little earlier like you had planned.

 

[chattadisser]

Yikes for the eventful flight! Don't you wish they would just tell you what is happenning so you could prepare? If there is weather and we have to circle a while, great, I know and won't be anxiously checking the time.

Kudos to you to making it to get dinner and see Illuminations! The villa looks great. Kinda looks like an apartment complex.

Boo to big head man getting in your pictures of the opening ceremony. Don't you wish tall people would look around and see "Oh, I'm a head taller than you, why don't we trade places and I can see right over you" but they never seem to. It could be that these people are mostly men...I'm just sayin'.

Christine

 

[Captain_Oblivious]

The other announcement is we are now officially "empty nesters". I thought I would be more excited, but I miss Nick already. He's only 35 minutes away, but it seems like a lot more. Anyway - I hope he loves school and can focus and do what he needs to do to succeed.

I'm sure he'll do great!

The cabin lights were on.

After about 5 minutes you could see we still weren't descending. We hit a patch of clouds and *Bam*, all of a sudden we hit an air pocket that was strong enough to knock a tray table loose and send us all bouncing up and down in our seats.

It got a little freaky for awhile because we hit pockets of air where it was literally pouring down rain.

Ugh, that's never fun. And never a comforting feeling.

You could tell it had been raining buckets because the roof near the mini monorail had leaked quite a bit. The floor was soaked and covered with caution cones.

Wow! Is it just me, or are we getting more and more of these huge storms every year?

But we made it to the main terminal and there was Mickey to welcome me!

It's pretty amazing. I haven't been to WDW since last summer and haven't flown there since 2010, but just seeing this picture made me get that "Ahhhhh...." feeling when you've arrived.

Back on the road we finally got our chance to pass through this

So magical!

Bored in line I took a picture of the back of our nifty rain ponchos that we got last summer when we toured University of Delaware. I knew they would come in handy some day. Today was that day.

We're #1! We're #1!

We finished eating just in time to find a spot for Illuminations.

Not too shabby with the cell phone pictures.

It wasn't the most luxurious resort, but it did have some pleasant landscaping.

All you really need is a bed and a bathroom. This place looks very nice.

One nice perk to staying off site is you get this view every single time you pass the property line!

Looks a lot better in the sunlight!

So not only did it take forever to get these AP's at the IG, but somehow our parking was omitted. Makes no sense, but whatever.

We decided to take the ferry.

Good 'ol summer. It fogs up the lens every time!

Ahhh - VGF - one of my homes. I can't wait to stay with you!

You'll have to let us know how you enjoy the Red Roof Inn.

Darn - what a crappy view - I mean, come on - there is someone's ear in my picture!

Vincent Van Gogh?

Truth is, even if we had made it through the turn-style there was really no where to stand. It was pretty crowded.

You're there for Rope Drop. That's all that matters.

 

[Pinkocto]

I know it wasn't for me, but thanks for the info on the rental cars. I checked them out this morning and changed my reservation for CA, saved $25.

 

[afwdwfan]

Both of my wait lists for BWV's have come through. Yay Yay Yay!

Congratulations!

I did book one special F&W seminar - a mixology seminar. Should be fun!

I'm sure you get to sample some things in it don't you?

After about 5 minutes you could see we still weren't descending. We hit a patch of clouds and *Bam*, all of a sudden we hit an air pocket that was strong enough to knock a tray table loose and send us all bouncing up and down in our seats.

Yikes.

Hmmm... driving causes heart problems, flying causes you to plunge towards the ground a high rate of speed. Hmmm... tough call.

Our rental car had a Tennessee license plate. I picked that because I knew it would be easier to find in a parking lot and we could definitely use the tourist excuse if we did something stupid while driving! Always thinking, I am.

Well, you saw the pictures we took of vehicles in Tennessee. You definitely have a built in excuse!

You know I live in a state that doesn't serve alcohol in grocery stores, so I always have to take a picture.

Really? I thought Indiana had some odd laws. You can get it in a grocery store. It just can't be cold. Or Sunday.

Plus I was curious about this bud light limearita.

Don't do it!!!!

No, I didn't try it. Has anyone? Are they any good?

Ok, no I haven't. I just prefer to leave the margarita stuff to the liquor experts and the beer to the breweries. I don't know I guess I'm just old fashioned. Something about a lime a rita poured from a can just doesn't do it for me.

It wasn't the most luxurious resort, but it did have some pleasant landscaping.

Looks very nice. Maybe not Disney, but you could do a lot worse!

But this time no chest pain! Yay!

Always a good thing!

Being greeted by a bright pink Mickey hand is never a bad thing

I don't recall having ever seen a bright pink Mickey hand.

Ahhhh - the castle - it chokes me up every time!

Up Next - Can an experienced DISer actually get lost in the MK?

Since you're bringing it up, I'm going to assume that is a yes.

 

[englishrose47]

I seem to be a little behind on all my threads !!! Renting a car would not be good ofr our Trips with 10 peopleLet's see 5 in the car 2 in the trunk, and 3 on the roof , Hey it might work

 

[Millie12591]

Before I get to my next update I do have some exciting news about the October trip!

Both of my wait lists for BWV's have come through. Yay Yay Yay!



You know I live in a state that doesn't serve alcohol in grocery stores, so I always have to take a picture. Plus I was curious about this bud light limearita.



No, I didn't try it. Has anyone? Are they any good?

They are pretty good, but A LOT of sugar for such a little can, and from the intense sweet, I'm safe in saying it's high fructose corn syrup. I can't tell you how much because as you know, alcohol isn't regulated by the FDA, and therefore doesn't have to have all it's ingredients listed let alone caloric count.
Our fine Treasury Dept. (naturally-right?!? ) is who over sees alcohol regulations (from the prohibition days-if you are wondering why them), are under no obligations to list such things.
Of course the beer, wine and liquor companies are fighting labeling, tooth and nail, they don't want to list anything because a well informed customer may no longer become a customer when they know how many calories they're drinking, not to mention some of the icky ingredients they put into them.

All I can say is, if you are concerned with what's in your beer, stick to German made beers, they are under an obligation to stay pure in their making of beer. Americans.....not so much. A friend said to me that American beers are the McDonalds of beers, and I have to agree with him.
Here's a great article on what is in our beer....
http://foodbabe.com/category/most-controversial/ -(Food babe is a great source for what is in our foods, drinks, and products we put on/in our bodies)

Ticks me off really. BUT! This may change soon (at least for those companies who will want to participate), I believe there is a huge push for there to be listing of ingredients (you really do NOT want to know what is in some beer these days) since they, like the cosmetic industry (you REALLY don't want to know what is in your makeup ) can put anything in their products, (aaaand pretty much do ) and get away with it without having to answer to anyone. http://news.yahoo.com/nutritional-labels-coming-alcoholic-drinks-192459320.html

Sorry to go on a rant. As you can see, I'm a woman who likes to be informed. I get the feeling you are as well, that's why I shared.

Sorry about Maximus, hoping he will pull through and not cost you another arm and leg. I kinda like seeing you in the pictures, not to mention up walking around and able to take pictures to share with us.

 

[MEK]

I would not have noticed had you not pointed it out.

Well, you're not alone because obviously even I didn't notice it or I would have edited it out. Sheesh!

Now I can't stop laughing when I look at the picture.

I'm glad I was able to provide some comic relief. Not my intention, but OK!

Sometimes leaving the resort an hour a head still does not get you to MK in time. Busses and Boats - no tellin'

So true. But in our rental car I thought we would get there in plenty of time. Obviously NOT!

That landing or notlanding sounded scary. I mean a head up would be nice. I guess in the end safer to circle and land when it was clear. I wonder if they attempted to go for it under instructions and bailed?

That's the second time that happened to me. I understand (well, sort of) why they limit the information. I guess they figure its not "needs to know" type info.

Glad everyone got on the ground safe. And you still made it for Illuminations

I'm so psyched we got there in time for Illuminations. I really, really wanted to see that show. I was thrilled everything worked well post landing.

Thanks for this! Do they offer insurance? Do you ever purchase it?

They do, but quite honestly you don't need it. Your own car insurance will cover you for a rental car. We never take the insurance. They will try to get you to take it, but you don't need it unless you aren't insured.

 

[Poolrat]

Well, you're not alone because obviously even I didn't notice it or I would have edited it out. Sheesh!

Now I feel better....

I'm glad I was able to provide some comic relief. Not my intention, but OK!

Laughing not because the ear was there but more that you mentioned it.... Now I am like ...what opening show there is an ear.....

That's the second time that happened to me. I understand (well, sort of) why they limit the information. I guess they figure its not "needs to know" type info.

I would tend to think once you start plummeting to the ground, you need to know.

I am guessing everyone got quiet so maybe they could hear directions .... but there were none. Maybe everyone just held their breath.

No clapping upon a safe landing ?

 

[MEK]

Oh my!! Just reading about your flight raised my blood pressure....and upset my stomach.....sounded exactly like our flight when we had to abort landing and circle around! Great pics once again!!

Circling is the worst because you can't help wondering, "what if". That's no fun at all! Sorry to raise your BP. I'm sure mine was quite hight right then and there.

I am trying to swing an extra day on the front and the back and I STILL miss you by just over 24 hours.

Really? ughhh! We actually get in very, very late on October 23rd. How I wish you were going to be there. Such a bummer.

I can imagine that being an empty nester is a bit of a shock. We are down by only two and it is a bit shocking.

It is a little strange. I felt a little better today because I got text messages from both kids. I always like to hear they are doing well.

Yay for the waitlist coming through! I still don't completely understand the waitlist... but I assume it has to do with a room you wanted not being available at time of booking that opens up. Then you can switch your resie to that room, right?

Exactly. You are allowed to hold two waitlists at any given time. A wait list isn't just a resort, it's also a room category. So with BWV you can't just say you want to wait list standard, garden, and boardwalk views because that would be 3 wait lists.

DVC sends you a new reservation when it comes through. That's your only notification. I think you have a better chance when you wait list for fewer days.

That flight sounds very scary!

It may have been a memorable flight, but it wasn't one of my favorites, that's for sure.

Looks like there was a lot of rain on your arrival night! Glad you found your resort ok though!

I am not sure what is worse... missing RD entirely or making it just in time to get only a glimpse.

I'm going to say missing it all together is worse because it was nice to be in the park by 9am. That was definitely sweet!

Cant wait to find out where you headed to....

It's actually pretty predictable.

All caught up! Poor Max, I hope that he is doing better now!

Ahh - thanks! He is doing better. He got really sick on Thursday and Friday but he's back to normal now. I hope he stays that way for a LONG time!

Wow, that is a lot of rain on your arrival day! Boo, rain! Your resort is really pretty - looks like a great place for a run!

It was pouring and for a LONG time. We landed at 5:30 and it was still raining at 8pm. Certainly not your average summer shower.

The resort was small, but the villa was very nice. There really wasn't much room to go for a run, but I managed.

Your AP parking snafu is a real bummer. At least you got to see some of the opening show and got into the park at a decent hour, but it would have been nice to get their smoothly and a little earlier like you had planned.

I'm glad we found out about the parking snafu early on in the trip. We were able to rectify it pretty quickly.

It wasn't that much of a set back, but it was sort of strange. Apparently there are different colored bands on the bottom of the AP and ours was the wrong color. We did get it taken care of and I'm glad we figured it out sooner rather than later.

Yikes for the eventful flight! Don't you wish they would just tell you what is happenning so you could prepare? If there is weather and we have to circle a while, great, I know and won't be anxiously checking the time.

It would have helped if the pilot had been a little more forthcoming with the information. I'm an obsessive phone checker, so it probably wouldn't have helped.

Kudos to you to making it to get dinner and see Illuminations! The villa looks great. Kinda looks like an apartment complex.

It does look like an apartment complex. It was certainly sufficient for this trip. I am so glad we made it to Epcot for dinner and a "show". That's all I had hoped to accomplish on the first night so it was a success!

Boo to big head man getting in your pictures of the opening ceremony. Don't you wish tall people would look around and see "Oh, I'm a head taller than you, why don't we trade places and I can see right over you" but they never seem to. It could be that these people are mostly men...I'm just sayin'.

Christine

OMG Yes! I can't fault that guy. But last year I had this woman with a big witches hat on in front of me. It absolutely drove me CRAZY, but I refrained from pulling it off his.

 

[eandesmom]

After about 5 minutes you could see we still weren't descending. We hit a patch of clouds and *Bam*, all of a sudden we hit an air pocket that was strong enough to knock a tray table loose and send us all bouncing up and down in our seats.

Yikes.
My fellow passengers, who had all been unusually silent (including the babies), let out a collective scream.

It felt like a jolt on Space Mountain.

Then the cabin lights went off again and we circled&.

and circled&..

and circled&..

at the same altitude.

No one said a word.

It got a little freaky for awhile because we hit pockets of air where it was literally pouring down rain.

We had a descent like that in Denver. We are weird though. It's Denver, there is always turbulence. They warned the entire plane and did cabin check, etc early. Still people screamed and they had to then tell them what causes turbulence.

We however were expecting it and kind of laughed when it happened..as if it WAS a ride. In Orlando though, you don't expect it. I've had one landing like that and it was a surprise, it's pretty rare there it seems, the flight crew was surprised as well. I am quite sure though that Tampa would not have been any better.

You could tell it had been raining buckets because the roof near the mini monorail had leaked quite a bit. The floor was soaked and covered with caution cones.

UGH and ICK

The rental car and baggage does not sound like fun at all

So here was my plan:

We needed to activate our PAP's and get the TIW card. I needed a strategy for how to do this the easiest way.

Unfortunately there was only one person at Guest Relations, probably because it was past 8pm. So we had to wait on line for quite awhile. At least 25 minutes. Pure torture when you just want to get inside Epcot and get something to eat.

Bored in line I took a picture of the back of our nifty rain ponchos that we got last summer when we toured University of Delaware. I knew they would come in handy some day. Today was that day.



Once we were inside I was hoping we could still eat at the table service restaurant in Morocco, but they weren't letting new patrons in. Drat! I wanted to try this now that we purchased the TIW. At a price of $100 and only 5 days in Disney, my goal was to at least break even on the price.

Oh what a bummer! Were all the TS locations closed or did you just go for whatever was closest at that point given the hour.

Love the ponchos!

You know I live in a state that doesn't serve alcohol in grocery stores, so I always have to take a picture. Plus I was curious about this bud light limearita.



No, I didn't try it. Has anyone? Are they any good?

It's bud light. Pretending to be a margarita. All of it is wrong on so many levels!

We did run into a little snafu at the parking gate. Apparently our AP's did not have the correct sticker on them that including parking. I was under the impression that every AP included parking. Why would there be different stickers along the bottom? It made no sense, but I flat out told the attendant I was not paying for parking and he told me to take the AP's to guest services for an exchange. [

UGH. Any clue what the snafu was? I probably need to make note for when I pick up my PAP in December. We will have a car for a couple of days. May or may not use it to get to the parks but I do want to make sure I have it covered in case we do.

A peek of the opening show is FAR better than no opening show, any day of the week!

 

[Moira222]

Sounds like move in day went pretty well & despite needing a nap that bike ride sounds lovely! Enjoy your empty next, winter break is around the corner!!

woot woot for your BWV wait list coming through.

What sort of mixology seminar did you sign up for? My SIL and I are signed up for a Bacardi Rum mixology seminar.

speaking of drinks, I agree with the comments above. Bud Light Rita is really confused. True that I am not a fan of beer or margaritas but the combination of the two is pretty meh. Not worth the calories in my book.

what an awful landing. Bad enough to have to wait out bad weather at 50000 feet but your landing sounds really stressful.

For arriving so late you did get to do a fair amount just getting settled in and then taking care of your PAP and TIW. and what better way to end a travel day than with fireworks? I was at an amusement park this past weekend with family and as it got darker and darker, I thought "how sad...no parade, no fireworks". nope, not spoiled at all

Polynesia looks nice. I did actually call them to do pricing inquiries for next June. My youngest sister & her family will likely do an off property site due to the cost, though I'm hoping she will pick on property just for the EMH.

Shhh I frequently get turned around in the parks. Joe is my navigator....I don't know why I even argue with him because he is always right. but don't tell him!

 

[scottny]

Sorry to hear about your loss.
Beautiful pics in that town.
You really were a stalker. LOl
Cute school bus.
Creepy cemetery. Me no like. LOL
Charleston looked so pretty. Too bad about the short amount of time.
Ooh Pedro. I remember him fondly from my childhood.
Poor Max.
Crying babies are the worst but nothing you can do. :O(
I would have been crying in the plane. I always go down the escalators all the way to the bottom and go to the bathroom then just walk right over to ME. Maybe not next time being we are renting a car. Hmmm. I might need Depends. LOL
Never had the Mocorrita. I think I need to try it.
The resort was pretty.
I keep trying to convince Vinny we need to buy into VGF. Wish me luck in December we do an add-on.
All caught up again.

 

[MEK]

I'm sure he'll do great!

Thanks Mark. I hope so. He's in the Dickinson dorms and he has 8am classes every morning. Math and Chemistry. He is NOT an early riser so if he makes it through this semester he should be set.

Let's just say it wasn't one of my favorite flights into Orlando. Rates about the worst right now!

Ugh, that's never fun. And never a comforting feeling.

No, but thank goodness I didn't see the movie Flight with Denzel Washington until AFTER that flight. I would have really been dying.

Wow! Is it just me, or are we getting more and more of these huge storms every year?

I don't know. Sometimes I think that our weather pattern seems really unsettled. I know that Orlando at 5pm in the summer can be a bad time too land, but this was a really big storm. It just lasted longer than usual.

It's pretty amazing. I haven't been to WDW since last summer and haven't flown there since 2010, but just seeing this picture made me get that "Ahhhhh...." feeling when you've arrived.

So Do I! There is something so great about getting into the main terminal and seeing the Disney touches. It just screams - let the vacation begin!

So magical!

Yeah, isn't it? It even had me questioning whether we should bother at all!

We're #1! We're #1!

I'm definitely getting some UD spirit this year! We did this long bike ride on the campus the other day (our friends live near there and they took us for a tour) and when we rode past the band practicing it was pretty hard NOT to get the UD spirit!

Not too shabby with the cell phone pictures.

Thanks!

All you really need is a bed and a bathroom. This place looks very nice.

It was very nice for what we paid for it. Plenty of room to spread out. The Disney resorts have spoiled me, so I knew I needed something where I didn't feel cramped.

Looks a lot better in the sunlight!

It sure does!

I know, right? There are different strip colors on the bottom of the pass. I have no idea why. They all should include parking because I think they should assume that everyone may need it at some point during the year. Even though we are DVC it doesn't mean we are always going to stay DVC.

Not funny at all Mark!

You'll have to let us know how you enjoy the Red Roof Inn.

Ah, yes, the RRI. That was our major splurge on this trip, but I'll get to that!

Vincent Van Gogh?

Perhaps!

You're there for Rope Drop. That's all that matters.

True - we WERE in the park by 9am. That's really good for us!

 

[MeMom]

The other announcement is we are now officially "empty nesters". I thought I would be more excited, but I miss Nick already. He's only 35 minutes away, but it seems like a lot more. Anyway - I hope he loves school and can focus and do what he needs to do to succeed.


Clearly the bad weather had finally stopped and the show went on. And I got that chill of excitement that one always gets when a vacation has truly begun.

Hope Nick has a fantastic year! He'll be home when the laundry piles up. I saw a friend of mine last night who has just left his daughter at Pepperdine, which is a million miles away from 'Podunk', Tennessee! That's a HUGE leap!

The feel of the start of a vacation is incredible!

 

[GoofyFan1515]

Nice updates! Glad you made it safely, but wow what a rainstorm!!! Appropriate you were greeted by ducks! At least it wasn't so bad you couldn't make the IG! And you got some food and still made IllumiNations! I recognize where you were standing.......I have some identical pictures to that with the island in the way!!!

Polynesian Isles looks like a really nice offsite property to stay! And great news that Denny didn't have a repeat of the HHI chest pains this trip!!!

Too bad you got held up so much heading into MK for the opening show. That was some more huge crowd you were behind!

 

[JacquiBee]

They do, but quite honestly you don't need it. Your own car insurance will cover you for a rental car. We never take the insurance. They will try to get you to take it, but you don't need it unless you aren't insured.

As an insurance agent, I advise my customers this: If you are involved in a God Forbid accident in a rental car and you have not taken their insurance, you must pay your deductible (and the amount of rental income they lose while the car is being repaired). So, depending on what they charge and what your deductible is, it might be beneficial to take their insurance. On a short trip 3-4 days, with one driver, it will cost you approximately $100. If your deductible is $500 (average nowadays), you could potentially save $400+. This is all IMHO. It's a gamble either way...like most insurance.

 

[nowellsl]

As an insurance agent, I advise my customers this: If you are involved in a God Forbid accident in a rental car and you have not taken their insurance, you must pay your deductible (and the amount of rental income they lose while the car is being repaired). So, depending on what they charge and what your deductible is, it might be beneficial to take their insurance. On a short trip 3-4 days, with one driver, it will cost you approximately $100. If your deductible is $500 (average nowadays), you could potentially save $400+. This is all IMHO. It's a gamble either way...like most insurance.

Yeah, I wish we had done this a few months ago. My brother in law ran over something on the interstate that caused bumper damage to a rental van - had to pay $500 deductible and their insurance went up! Live and learn