January 15, 2006 / 1/15/2006 anyone?

[jmet]

Hi Michele,
I'm so glad to hear that Taylor is doing better so soon. It always amazes me how quick kids can bounce back from things! If it were ME I'd still be whimpering and acting pathetic no doubt . I hope you were still able to really enjoy your vacation - things like that can make it challanging to say the least.

Yes, Nathan had a TON of homework! His teacher sent 24 pages with us, plus two lists of sight words to memorize, a spelling list and a travel journal to keep daily (along with a written note asking him to count all change, read signs etc. etc.) - this was for THREE missed days! I thought it was a LOT for that amount of days out. He did get it all done and turned in on Monday though, so that was a relief. My 8th grader on the other hand, had 3 worksheets in one class only - it was the end of the quater though and they were working on just getting everything cleaned up before the new one started I guess, - but STILL! I couldn't believe it.

Our stay in Orlando was really great. We actually headed right to the parks after debarking the ship and got to Epcot just after 9:00 am. We just did Soarin', Mission Space and Turtle Talk though and then headed over to MGM to eat lunch, take the boys to see the stunt show, let Nathan meet the Power Rangers, Ride RNRC (me and Jake) do the Backlot Tour and then headed over to MK for dinner at LTT, a couple quick rides on BTTMR and watched the fireworks before heading out to check in at our resort. It was a HUGE day, but everyone held up really well considering how early we got up. We just hung out at the resort pool on Friday and then went to Wonder Works for the comedy/magic show that evening. That was great fun as they ended up getting first Nathan, then me and finally Mark up on the stage at one time or another for silly skits and such. We could not even believe they got Nathan on that stage - it was priceless! A VERY memorable evening indeed!

Did you get to do all that you planned in between your mishaps? What parks did you hit? Did you like the resort you stayed at - one of the All Stars right?
We almost always stay off sight, so I enjoy hearing other peoples experiances.
Jamie

 

[we6clarks]

Hi Jamie,
Wow. You got to do a lot in your day at the park. We've only been during the summer before. I got spoiled with not having to wait in line for the rides. It will be hard to go during a busier time of year now. We went to MK Friday. We had breakfast at the castle before the park opened. We did all of the rides in fantasy land. We also went to Mickey's toon town. I watched Cinderellabration while the twins slept and Robert took Blake and Regan to tomorrow land. We left the park at 5:30 and went back to the hotel to swim. We stayed at AS Music. I liked it. I don't have much to compare it to. The only other time we've stayed on site we were at Pop. They are pretty similiar. I liked that AS Music seemed less crowded. It could just be the time of year. Pop has more menu choices and the pop jets that my kids enjoyed. Do you usually stay at the same place off site? Wonder Works sounds like fun. Where is it at? I've never heard of it before.

I can't believe how much make up work Jamie had. Blake had 15 worksheets to do most were front and back. I guess he didn't have it as bad as I thought. I still don't feel like I've climbed out of the post vacation hole. It was so nice not to have to cook, do dishes, or clean for a week. Hope this goes through I've been having trouble posting again
Michele

 

[jmet]

Hi Michele,
Your day at MK sounds wonderful! We had b-fast at the castle before park opening one year when we went too - and it was one of the highlights of that trip for me. Sounds like you got ALOT done that day too - and all by 5:30! I too am spoiled with the low crowds. I just could never tolerate crowds AND heat - so I admire you for going in the summer! We have only gone during the winter and have been really lucky with having great wheather every day.

No, we actually have never stayed at the same place twice. The "first" time (well, in recent histoy anyway) we went we stayed at what was then The Holiday Inn Family Suites (now it's the Nick Hotel) and that was great, but the next time we went we took my parents, my older mentally handicapped brother plus our own family so we rented a pool home for the extra space. We liked that, but decided the next time it would be nice to have a little "seperation" from my parents (we love 'em, but stick to us like glue...) so when we went back with the same group in 2004 we rented side by side condo's at Cypress Point. When Mark and I went back alone in Oct. for our belated anniversery trip we were going to stay there again, but ended up doing priceline and getting a room at The Omni Resort at Championsgate - a little bit farther out, but pretty luxurious (especially since they gave us the royal treatment!). Mark had insisted that we spend at least ONE night on site that trip (it was only four nights) so for the last night we moved to Coranado Springs - it was beautiful, but we were so spoiled at the Omni! This trip we changed our minds on hotels about a hundred times it seemed, but we finally ended up staying at Ron Jon's for the night b-4 the cruise (VERY nice!) and then rented a 4 bedroom, 4 bath condo at Regal Palms for the two nights after the cruise. It was bigger than we needed, but we rented directly from an owner (through VRBO) and got a great deal ($99.00 a night all taxes etc. included!). We LOVED being able to spread out a little after the 4 of us sharing one state room on the ship, which is why we went that route in the first place. We really haven't found a place yet that we DIDN'T like - but there are just so many options, I'm always finding a new one! Anyway, that was sure long winded - but hey, your used to that by now!
Wonderworks is somewhere on International Drive - I would have thought we couldn't miss it (have noticed it in the past even) as it is a building that is made to look as if it's upside down...well, we drove right past it (looking for it on the wrong side of the road - duh!) - but it's not too hard to spot - for MOST people If you ever go back I highly recommend it - they have a whole floor of interactive science type stuff for the kids, plus laser tag - but we only did the comedy/magic "dinner" show - they serve all you can eat pizza, popcorn and pop. The food was just OK, but the show was great.

It sounds to me like Blake and Nathan actually had almost the exact same amount of work - I just counted fronts and back seperately!
I totally know what you mean about climbing out of the vacation hole - I didn't even feel good for the whole week after we got back. Just getting back in the swing of things a little now!

Speaking of that I better go and get back to reality here. Sorry this is SO long!!! Hope you are having a nice week...
Jamie

 

[Tiffann4k]

I am still having a hard time getting back to normal....all that vacation spoiled me not to mention we spent almost a week in Ft Myers with my DH parents so didnt have to do anything there either....now that we are home I dont want to do anything

I do need to start my diet, I gained 5lbs with all that eating..lol I know thats not much but I am allready seariously overweight...ugh....lol

How is everyone else adjusting ??

 

[disneedee]

we didn't even go to wdw and it still took me a week to recover from a restful vacation. there is something wrong with that picture.
it was a great trip. glad we got to go to castaway cay and the sun was shining there!
i seem to find myself on disboards more than normal, and even have the urge to type instead of just read. disney withdrawls.

 

[we6clarks]

Tiffany and DisneyDee It took we a while to recover from the trip as well. It was hard to come home and have to do all the daily things to keep our house running after having a long break from them.

Hi Jamie,
Thanks for letting me know about Wonder Works and where you stay in Orlando. Do you have any other siblings besides your brother? I can't get my family to go with us to WDW . I think it be a lot fun to have a family vacation there. I have 2 brothers (1 older, 1 younger) and 2 sisters (younger). My parents don't think they can do that much walking. My brothers aren't thrilled with the idea of spending a week there. It looks like we'll be going back this summer. We tried to talk the kids into staying somewhere on the beach for a week. They didn't like that idea and want to go back to WDW. Have a good weekend.
Michele

 

[Tiffann4k]

Im Ready for another cruise!

 

[jmet]

Hi Michele,
I realize that you have probably totally given up by now that I would ever reply...but on the off chance you ever check again I thought I would! I haven't checked the cruise board for quite awhile - my apologies!!

Yes, I actually have 3 brothers - none of them married though! Two are older (including Rick who has gone with us twice to WDW) and one is younger. My oldest brother was planning to go with us on one of our trips, but ended up backing out because he lost his job shortly before that, and my younger brother sometimes acts mildly interested, but never seems to want to commit as far ahead as we do - and then it just never happens as something always comes up. I have mixed feelings about them coming or not - I always want EVERYONE to go - but then when they don't I figure it's two less opinions I have to try to accomadate as I make ALL the plans. Maybe someday they will join us and that would fun because by then hopefully I won't have too much of my own agenda to worry about - ha! I have NO idea when we'll be back though because now we have to save to go to California for a wedding in the fall of 2007 and I don't think we are going to squeeze in any more trips between now and then ...doesn't keep me from checking airfare constantly though (I am so BAD!). I am so jealous that you are going back this summer - how FUN! Will you be driving again and how long will you stay? How do your kids hold up in the heat? I'm afraid mine might give new meaning to the word WHINE! I would LOVE to surprise Nathan with a quick trip to Seaworld for his b-day since he's just become obsessed with dolphins and whales since our trip and talks about going to Seaworld all the time now. He see's the pictures of when we were there a few years ago, but doesn't remember a thing because he was only 3! Anyway, I'm sure we won't make it there before our California trip, but even if we could I'm not sure how he would handle all the heat - he doesn't like it so much when it gets hot here! Still I dream...
Hope all is well with you and yours!
Jamie

 

[we6clarks]

Hi Jamie,
We are going to drive again this summer. The kids did pretty well on the drive home during the day. Now that we know that they can make the drive in the day light hours no more drving through the night while they are sleeping. Hopefully we'll start our vacations from now on well rested rather than exhausted. We are probably going to stay 5 nights but we'll probably only go to the parks 2 days unless our children turn into angels. I need to reserve a room soon. I keep holding off thinking maybe there will be a discount released or that we'll get a pin code. We are going to try to take a break during the day to avoid the worst of the heat. Other than that we drink a lot of water and take the kids to the water play areas to cool off.

I hope you enjoy your trip to California. Maybe you can go to Disneyland while you're out that way. I have always wanted to go out west but the farthest west I've been is Chicago. Sad isn't it?

It was good to hear from you again. Talk to you soon.
Michele

 

[jmet]

Hey! Thanks for not giving up on me! It was nice to hear from you again too!

I SO wish we were within driving distance of WDW!!!! OH--- the danger that would be - ha,ha!!!! I don't know exactly how long it would take to drive from here, but I know it would take a couple of days anyway (with stops and all) and we never have enough time to spare that we could dedicate 4 days of our trip to driving. Not that I haven't thought of it - many a time!! Air fare is just killer! It's unfortunate though because I do think our kids are finally old enough to MAYBE not kill each other on a long car trip . I don't know though - we are driving to IL Easter weekend for a family get together so we'll get a little taste of how they are on a longer trip in the car (it's only 6 hours though). We are also surprising them and leaving a day early so we can stop and spend one night at a water park hotel in Wisconsin Dells. So they will only have one stint of 6 hours on the way home - not much of a test. Probably won't matter as like I mentioned before I doubt we'll be going very far between now and the Calif. trip. A little depressing, but I guess I'll live. I have been checking out the Disney Land boards once in a while...I'm not sure how much time we are going to be out there though because the wedding is set for 3 weeks after shcool starts for the year and Jake will be a SOPHMORE by then (can you say YIKES??!!!) I keep hearing it's almost impossible to pull high shcool kids due to the work load, so I'm still in the pre-pre planning stages of what kind of trip that will be. I'm pretty sure I won't be able to resist taking them out for at least a couple of days so we can do SOMEthings!! We'll see.

I know what you mean about holding out for a good rate on the rooms - hopefully you are right though and a code will come out!! Do you have left over tickets? I keep seeing that deal for tickets w/the free upgrade to hoppers plus water parks I think? That sounds like such a good deal.
What do you do on your non-park days then? Hang at the resort and swim? That is what my kids would vote for I'm sure - they probably wouldn't mind that plan at all (I'm the one with the big agenda always!)!
What fun to have another trip to look forward to.

Well, thanks again for digging this thread up - it's kind of fun to get an update evey now and then!
Jamie

 

[we6clarks]

Hi Jamie,
It is a 14 hr drive from here. I wish we could afford to pay 6 airfares. The trip would be so much faster. Maybe one day we'll hit the lottery or something We did the same ticket upgrade offer that they have now after the cruise. We got 10 day passes for everyone except the twins (who are still free). We have 8 days left on them. They haven't had a room only discount in a long time. So we probably will be out of luck. I wanted to post some pictures from the cruise. I can't remember our login on the photobucket site. Hopefully Robert will remember. When are your boys out for spring break? Blake and Regan are off school the first week of April. Do you have plans to go anywhere over the break? I had thought about going to Indy for the weekend. I didn't know the NCAA basketball finals were there this year. That cancelled the trip because the hotel rooms were mostly sold out or very expensive. Enjoy your trip to IL!! Talk to you soon.
Michele