Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina
Life is short. Live it well.
- Joined
- Sep 12, 2008
- Messages
- 13,825
Hello everyone! 
It's been a long time! A l-o-n-g time!
For those veterans who might be reading along, you'll know its been an extended period since I embarked on a trip report.....they used to be one of my favorite leisure time activities. Sadly, the last one I attempted to complete didn't even get completely finished: we lost a family member to suicide and I never did get back to wrap it up once life got back to normal. But, in my defense, it took a long time for life to re-balance after that. Maybe it still hasn't completely? But, I digress....
Fast forward one year, and here we are in quarantine because a global pandemic is wreaking havoc with our scheduled, organized, predictable lives. The business I work for closed voluntarily almost two weeks ago, even before our state's governor ordered the closure of all non-essential services. The first week it was easy to keep busy with all the tasks that had made their way onto my always-lengthy to-do list. Now I'm starting to get stir crazy as my list has been depleted and there's nary a closet remaining to be cleaned nor a surface to be dusted. I'm as caught up on yard work as Mother Nature has allowed (we are northerners, remember, so while the calendar says its spring, our actual weather often has different ideas) and I'm desperately seeking something to occupy my brain while we ride out the social distancing that will ground us for at least the next month.....and possibly beyond.
So, I came up with the idea......a return to the Dis!
Hmmm.....can I remember how to do this?
(Please bear with me as I get myself back in the swing of things again)
For the new folks that might be reading along, let me provide a brief introduction. This trip features me (Gina) and my husband Steve. I'd like to give a fancy description of us, but the fact of the matter is.....we're just a pair of grown-up kids.
I am the executive assistant at Michigan's largest craft and antique mall. Steve is an Operations Manager for a global auto parts manufacturer. We are Canadian-born and raised, moving to the Mitten 3 years ago when Steve's employer opened a new facility in metro Detroit. We have one grown son who remains in Canada and works with special needs adults. We also have two beautiful cats, Violet and Dash, whom we love as much (maybe more?) than we love some people
. You'll probably get a few pics of them in the midst of my ramblings. Cat lovers, rejoice! Dog lovers, well......I'm sorry 
.
This was trip #19 for us (the first being in January 2009, when our love of Orlando was born) so we are no strangers to the City Beautiful. On each visit, we have stuck to our mandate of doing at least one new thing....which has grown harder as the number of trips has grown substantially, but still isn't impossible. It might be a new attraction, a new restaurant, or a new tour.....but every single vacation has featured something we've never done on a previous trip. This most recent adventure was no exception.
This vacation was an "extra". Once we became empty nesters, we settled into a comfortable routine of traveling in the spring (around the beginning of May for our anniversary) and in October (for the Halloween events). Devoted offsiters, we always stay at our home property, Sheraton Vistana Resort, where we own two float weeks [each in a 2 bedroom, 2 bath villa]. Following our trip in October 2019, I stumbled upon a getaway week with Interval International for the end of January at SVR for the all-in price of $336.80.....and we felt obliged not to take advantage of such a crazy low offer. For reference, that's about 1/3 of what we pay in maintenance fees for each of our two ownership weeks......and it translated to a nightly rate of $48.11.
Our arm are made of rubber, so it was easy to twist them. We knew we had some Skymiles banked that would reduce our flight costs, plus we had our Universal annual passes that were still active, so that vacation math kept making more and more sense (cents?). We also hadn't been able to go home for Christmas (due to some processing delays with US Customs & Immigration) which was horribly disappointing, so we felt like we deserved this Florida escape in the middle of the winter's harshest grip. If we couldn't see our families, we could at least still spend time with palm trees.
It seemed completely logical at the time. You'll have to trust me on that!!
This was initially supposed to be our "economical" trip. Crazy cheap accommodations, reasonable flight prices, "free" admission to the Universal parks with our AP's.....but as it usually does, the planning took on a life of its own and the trip grew bigger as the countdown grew shorter. SeaWorld annual passes were purchased, a few add-on activities were sourced through Groupon, and we ended up with a rather epic winter getaway.
I felt guilty at the time, but now? We just cancelled our planned trip for next month due to the Coronavirus theme park closures, and now our end-of-May rebooking seems unlikely as well. I'm glad, in hindsight, that we made the most of January because the countdown to our fall trip sits at a painful 199 days.
I hope a few of you will join me as I recount our memories from our winter adventures. Pour yourself a "quarantini"
, find a comfy chair, read along and PLEASE join in the chatter [if we're all going to be locked down, we might better keep each other company!]. Your comments, input, suggestions, critiques and overall fun conversation is what makes these things so fun to do. Don't be shy, we're all friends here!
Coming up: a 6 am flight seemed like a good idea
.
It's been a long time! A l-o-n-g time!For those veterans who might be reading along, you'll know its been an extended period since I embarked on a trip report.....they used to be one of my favorite leisure time activities. Sadly, the last one I attempted to complete didn't even get completely finished: we lost a family member to suicide and I never did get back to wrap it up once life got back to normal. But, in my defense, it took a long time for life to re-balance after that. Maybe it still hasn't completely? But, I digress....
Fast forward one year, and here we are in quarantine because a global pandemic is wreaking havoc with our scheduled, organized, predictable lives. The business I work for closed voluntarily almost two weeks ago, even before our state's governor ordered the closure of all non-essential services. The first week it was easy to keep busy with all the tasks that had made their way onto my always-lengthy to-do list. Now I'm starting to get stir crazy as my list has been depleted and there's nary a closet remaining to be cleaned nor a surface to be dusted. I'm as caught up on yard work as Mother Nature has allowed (we are northerners, remember, so while the calendar says its spring, our actual weather often has different ideas) and I'm desperately seeking something to occupy my brain while we ride out the social distancing that will ground us for at least the next month.....and possibly beyond.
So, I came up with the idea......a return to the Dis!
Hmmm.....can I remember how to do this?
(Please bear with me as I get myself back in the swing of things again)For the new folks that might be reading along, let me provide a brief introduction. This trip features me (Gina) and my husband Steve. I'd like to give a fancy description of us, but the fact of the matter is.....we're just a pair of grown-up kids.
I am the executive assistant at Michigan's largest craft and antique mall. Steve is an Operations Manager for a global auto parts manufacturer. We are Canadian-born and raised, moving to the Mitten 3 years ago when Steve's employer opened a new facility in metro Detroit. We have one grown son who remains in Canada and works with special needs adults. We also have two beautiful cats, Violet and Dash, whom we love as much (maybe more?) than we love some people
. You'll probably get a few pics of them in the midst of my ramblings. Cat lovers, rejoice! Dog lovers, well......I'm sorry .This was trip #19 for us (the first being in January 2009, when our love of Orlando was born) so we are no strangers to the City Beautiful. On each visit, we have stuck to our mandate of doing at least one new thing....which has grown harder as the number of trips has grown substantially, but still isn't impossible. It might be a new attraction, a new restaurant, or a new tour.....but every single vacation has featured something we've never done on a previous trip. This most recent adventure was no exception.
This vacation was an "extra". Once we became empty nesters, we settled into a comfortable routine of traveling in the spring (around the beginning of May for our anniversary) and in October (for the Halloween events). Devoted offsiters, we always stay at our home property, Sheraton Vistana Resort, where we own two float weeks [each in a 2 bedroom, 2 bath villa]. Following our trip in October 2019, I stumbled upon a getaway week with Interval International for the end of January at SVR for the all-in price of $336.80.....and we felt obliged not to take advantage of such a crazy low offer. For reference, that's about 1/3 of what we pay in maintenance fees for each of our two ownership weeks......and it translated to a nightly rate of $48.11.
Our arm are made of rubber, so it was easy to twist them. We knew we had some Skymiles banked that would reduce our flight costs, plus we had our Universal annual passes that were still active, so that vacation math kept making more and more sense (cents?). We also hadn't been able to go home for Christmas (due to some processing delays with US Customs & Immigration) which was horribly disappointing, so we felt like we deserved this Florida escape in the middle of the winter's harshest grip. If we couldn't see our families, we could at least still spend time with palm trees.
It seemed completely logical at the time. You'll have to trust me on that!!
This was initially supposed to be our "economical" trip. Crazy cheap accommodations, reasonable flight prices, "free" admission to the Universal parks with our AP's.....but as it usually does, the planning took on a life of its own and the trip grew bigger as the countdown grew shorter. SeaWorld annual passes were purchased, a few add-on activities were sourced through Groupon, and we ended up with a rather epic winter getaway.
I felt guilty at the time, but now? We just cancelled our planned trip for next month due to the Coronavirus theme park closures, and now our end-of-May rebooking seems unlikely as well. I'm glad, in hindsight, that we made the most of January because the countdown to our fall trip sits at a painful 199 days.
I hope a few of you will join me as I recount our memories from our winter adventures. Pour yourself a "quarantini"
, find a comfy chair, read along and PLEASE join in the chatter [if we're all going to be locked down, we might better keep each other company!]. Your comments, input, suggestions, critiques and overall fun conversation is what makes these things so fun to do. Don't be shy, we're all friends here!Coming up: a 6 am flight seemed like a good idea
.
. They are what I envision when I need a mental escape. These days, that's pretty often LOL.
) so its wonderful to jump right back in here with you. I believe I said it on FB, but again, my condolences on your family's loss. 
we’re going 9/17-9/20
