Laughter, Tears & Screams- Two Aussies in WDW! New - 6/10 - The End!!

[trixiequilts]

I have a picture just like this! Well, mine doesn't have your DH in it.

We hired a car one day and drove right around Oahu, and stopped at Waimea Bay, hoping to see some big waves. Alas, the water was as flat as a tack!!

What a bummer. I think that was one of DH's favorite parts of Oahu...the waves.

We also stopped at the Dole Factory to try some beautiful fresh pineapple and of course.... DOLE WHIPS! Yahooooooo!!!!! Just like in Disney World!!!

Woo-hoo! Did your mouth get as sore as mine did???

Swimming in beautiful waterfalls in Kauai...

How cool! Was the water warm? It was really dry when we were there, so we missed out on most of the waterfalls.

Mudbugging in Maui... (Such attractive outfits, I know! )

How the heck did we miss out on this??? What a riot!

We spoiled ourselves and stayed at the most gorgeous resort I've ever seen - the Westin, on Ka'anapali Beach.

We stopped in there to use the ATM. It was incredibly beautiful...and totally out of our price range!

...and we often dream of just packing everything up here and moving to Hawaii to be beach bums! If only...!!

Let's all go!

 

[trixiequilts]

That night we headed to Broadway to see... The Little Mermaid!!! I'd heard mixed reports about the show, but I've always loved the movie, and Conan was happy to go along with anything. And you know what? It was great!! Maybe not the best show ever (that has to go to Wicked!), but still awesome. The girl who played Ariel was fabulous, and the little boy who played Flounder was amazing!!

Did Conan like it? Did he clap enthusiastically after Part of Your World?

Instead, we headed to the East Village, and ate lunch at S'Mac.

YUM!

Aww.

After that, it was nap time! Also, my boots broke. Seriously. Both soles had fallen half off. Heh. Apparently Australian boots aren't made for New York winters.

Did you get some new ones in New York or did you do without?

This was the view from the window -

See the ball up the top there!? Yay!!

Unbelievable!

Conan dancing like mad...

Go Conan! Go Conan!

He looks like he should be an illustration in a children's book, doesn't he?

So here's midnight, with the millions of pieces of confetti flying through the air! And yes TrixieQuilts, they really do fly upwards!! The wind takes them everywhere!!

That's my favorite part!

 

[DWFan4Life]

I just finished reading your trip report and it's great. awesome pics coming here. Looking forward in hearing more from you.

Have a nice day everyone.

 

[jackdis]

So, your Hawaii pics brought back memories. Someone posted, earlier in your TR, about taking young kids. I wouldn't take them. There really isn't a whole lot for them to do. You can snorkel and hike, but my personal opinion is no small children. Plus, you want them to be able to remember that they went to Hawaii. Looks like you guys had a great time on your cruise!

We have taken our kids with us. It was some of the greatest vacations we have had. Beach, pool, total relaxation and playing with the kids. No places to run to!! We also did luaus and tours and they were fine. We even rented a jeep and rode all around the island, The kids love it. As for them remembering the trip, they will have pictures to look at to trigger memories and I am constantly amazed by what my 3 year old does remember. And, my husband and I will remember these great trips!!! I will remember the looks on their little faces when we were on a katamaran and saw giant sea turtles. And we will share these stories with them. Sadly, there will be a time when they don't want to come with us anymore, so life is too short, really, and we try to do as much as possible as a family while we can.

 

[AussieAngel]

How did she make the figurines? Clay?
What a great (hot) day. Weren't the guys roasting outside in their suits?

My sister made our wedding cake figurines out of plasticine. Do you have that in the US? It's basically a moulding sort of clay, but it's softer and more plasticy. If that makes sense!! She used some of my wedding dress material to make my little figurine's dress too. Hee.
And yes, the boys were very hot in their suits!! Everybody was. It was crazy hot!!

Woo-hoo! Did your mouth get as sore as mine did???

From eating pineapples!? Um, no!!!!! Should it have!? Why did you mouth get sore!? I'm so intrigued...!

How cool! Was the water warm? It was really dry when we were there, so we missed out on most of the waterfalls.

The water wasn't warm, but it wasn't freezing either. Refreshing, one might say!! There were trillions of mosquitoes around that area though, so we didn't stay a long time.

Did Conan like it? Did he clap enthusiastically after Part of Your World?

Conan liked The Little Mermaid too, yep!! Heee! I don't know if there was much clapping on his part, but he said he really liked it!

Did you get some new ones in New York or did you do without?

I didn't get new boots, nope. We only had a couple more days there, and I had other closed toe shoes to wear, so it was okay really. My feet were freezing cold the whole time anyway, even with my woolly boots and two pairs of socks!!

He looks like he should be an illustration in a children's book, doesn't he?

The police officer!? Totally!! Lots of people thought he was a lady, actually. Hehehee. I hope he doesn't read these boards.

I just finished reading your trip report and it's great. awesome pics coming here. Looking forward in hearing more from you.
Have a nice day everyone.

Yay, welcome!! Glad you're enjoying it so far!! More coming up very soon!

We have taken our kids with us. It was some of the greatest vacations we have had. Beach, pool, total relaxation and playing with the kids. No places to run to!! We also did luaus and tours and they were fine. We even rented a jeep and rode all around the island, The kids love it. As for them remembering the trip, they will have pictures to look at to trigger memories and I am constantly amazed by what my 3 year old does remember. And, my husband and I will remember these great trips!!! I will remember the looks on their little faces when we were on a katamaran and saw giant sea turtles. And we will share these stories with them. Sadly, there will be a time when they don't want to come with us anymore, so life is too short, really, and we try to do as much as possible as a family while we can.

That sounds lovely!! What a great trip!! I would have loved a trip like that when I was little too! I guess it really just comes down to kids and their interests though, really. Sea turtles, yayyy!!

More trip report coming up now!

 

[AussieAngel]

So after our fabulous, fun, exhausting adventures in New York, it was time to fly to Miami!!!

I wasn't really feeling like that dancing banana, to be honest. I wanted to stay in New York!! Even though I was a bit over the cold, I just love New York and could have spent our whole time there. On the other hand, I was excited to visit Miami since we'd never been there, and especially to warm up a bit!

We caught a taxi to the airport, and had a very uneventful flight to Miami. We didn't land on the Hudson River anyway, which was nice! I think I slept most of the way actually, and I hardly ever sleep on planes. New York definitely takes it out of you!!

And then, tadaaah! We arrived in Miami!

Wow, the humidity hit us as soon as we stepped out of the airport! What a difference! We'd gone from permanent goosebumps to some serious tropical heat. It wasn't that hot, really - about 78 degrees - but compared to New York winter weather, it was steaming! Yay!!!

So we cabbed it to our hotel in Miami Beach, the art-deco style Park Central. Here it is...

It was a pretty cool old hotel, right on the beach. Lovely! We pretty much dropped our bags, changed into some more sensible clothes (we were still rugged up in our winter woollies!) and hit the beach...

And then I believe, we slept!!! I guess we'd never really recovered from our jetlag, since New York was so busy. But the good thing we discovered about South Beach, Miami? If you accidentally nap until 11pm, there's still plenty of 24 hour restaurants to choose from! Heee!

South Beach at night...

So we had two full days in Miami after that. We spent our first day sleeping in (whoops!), and basically exploring the city on foot. We also went on a Miami Duck Tour! It's a big bus-type thing that travels around the streets of Miami to show you the sights, then goes straight into the water and becomes a water tour! It was fun and silly. Our tour guide was a bit crazy, but in a good way. We had to quack like ducks out the window at one stage.

Here's the bus thingy...

And here's part of our water tour. Nice!

We had lots of swims in the hotel pool throughout our Miami stay too, which was lovely! Here I am, enjoying the little pool...

And we liked the relaxing rooftop on our hotel too!

Our second full day in Miami was spent.... shopping!! Is that bad!? We came all the way to Miami and went to Aventure Mall. Hehehee. But it was awesome! We mostly went there for two reasons. Two of our favourite things about America - The Cheesecake Factory, and Abercrombie & Fitch!!!

We both totally stocked up on our Abercrombie clothes. Can you believe it's not in Australia? Boooo. And of course, we satisfied our Cheesecake Factory cravings!! Here I am eating my favourite dish, a chicken pasta dish with a peanut sauce. It's massive and I never manage to eat it all, but it's delicious!!!

We also had some yummy meals along the South Beach strip in Miami. There were so many restaurants along there that the restaurants were always trying to outdo each other with the best special. Good news for us!

And that was pretty much our time in Miami! I told you this installment would be quicker! We had a fun time chilling out, shopping and seeing the sights, but to be honest, I can't say either of us actually loved the city of Miami. We either felt like we were in tourist central, or if we ventured out of that area, we felt like we weren't meant to be there. We actually felt a bit unsafe a couple of times, which isn't nice. So we basically stayed inside our little tourist bubble, which really isn't the best way to explore a city.

Needless to say, we were both excited about venturing to Key West next! We hired a car in Miami and drove there, but that's a whole other story!! Driving on the "wrong" side of the road, waaaah! Would we make it!?! I'll tell you all about that in the next part!!

 

[lmillercrew]

We have taken our kids with us. It was some of the greatest vacations we have had. Beach, pool, total relaxation and playing with the kids. No places to run to!! We also did luaus and tours and they were fine. We even rented a jeep and rode all around the island, The kids love it. As for them remembering the trip, they will have pictures to look at to trigger memories and I am constantly amazed by what my 3 year old does remember. And, my husband and I will remember these great trips!!! I will remember the looks on their little faces when we were on a katamaran and saw giant sea turtles. And we will share these stories with them. Sadly, there will be a time when they don't want to come with us anymore, so life is too short, really, and we try to do as much as possible as a family while we can.

I am so glad that your children enjoyed themselves. I just don't know about mine. We took them to Mexico last summer and they all loved it and can't wait to go back. So, maybe one day we will take them to Hawaii.

 

[lmillercrew]

Great installment! I always think of CSI Miami when I see anything Miami. I love the art deco hotel. Was the inside just as cool? I bet that hotel has been around a long time. It's o.k. that this installment was short, because that means that now you go to Disney!!!

 

[coffeehousemom]

I can understand your feelings about Miami. I have had the same visiting there. Its hard to find the "happy medium" between touristy & other.


Can't wait till the Keys!!

 

[MaceysMom]

Miami looks awesome! Great update!!!!!!!!!! I can't wait for my honeymoon just to spend the time together will be awesome. It looks like you guys had a graet time so far. And you haven't even got to Disney yet!!

 

[NMAmy]

Hi Amy!!
Ooh, I didn't know you and Caitlin went to New York recently! I'm glad you both enjoyed the red bus. You obviously didn't have our cranky tour guide! Hee!

We had a lot of fun but since it was a trip for her school, we didn't really get to do much of anything that we'd hoped to do. Cait was upset that I hadn't been in charge of planning stuff because we spent a lot of our free time without a plan and it annoyed both of us. I did learn that I am WAY too old to enjoy staying in a dorm!

And we liked the relaxing rooftop on our hotel too!

That looks fabulous! I'm glad you enjoyed your days in Miami--and there's nothing wrong with shopping, my friend!

 

[punkin413]

miami looks nice! i've never been. i was supposed to go with my roommates in 1999 but it didn't work out. my dad was born just outside of miami and grew up there. but for some reason we just never made it down that far. usually we'd get distracted when we were in florida by all the stuff in orlando!

it's so cute that you guys are excited about abercrombie. i didn't realize you didn't have it in australia. you can have it!!!!! i can't stand that place. i used to like it until i realized that i was paying triple for the clothes there and after 2 washes they fall apart. yeah, i'll stick to old navy, gap and target. i'm a cheapo!

 

[jackdis]

LIked your Miami installment. Awesome rooftop deck. We kind of felt the same way....were there, can say we did it....

We loved Key West. Can't wait to hear your take on it! So relaxed and laid back.

 

[AussieAngel]

I hope everybody is having a fun weekend!!! I'll be back very soon with the Key West part of my trip report, but I thought I'd better reply to my lovely readers first!!

Great installment! I always think of CSI Miami when I see anything Miami. I love the art deco hotel. Was the inside just as cool? I bet that hotel has been around a long time. It's o.k. that this installment was short, because that means that now you go to Disney!!!

The inside of our hotel was pretty cool, yes!! We had a nice corner room overlooking the ocean, which has a massive big bed! Lovely! But oh-oh, we don't go to Disney just yet... We've got Key West to go first, THEN Disney!!

I can understand your feelings about Miami. I have had the same visiting there. Its hard to find the "happy medium" between touristy & other.
Can't wait till the Keys!!

I'm glad you feel the same way about Miami! It's nice to know it wasn't just us! Keys chapter coming up very soon!!

Miami looks awesome! Great update!!!!!!!!!! I can't wait for my honeymoon just to spend the time together will be awesome. It looks like you guys had a graet time so far. And you haven't even got to Disney yet!!

We did have a great time! As you said, it's fantastic just to have so much time together and explore fun, new places.

We had a lot of fun but since it was a trip for her school, we didn't really get to do much of anything that we'd hoped to do. Cait was upset that I hadn't been in charge of planning stuff because we spent a lot of our free time without a plan and it annoyed both of us. I did learn that I am WAY too old to enjoy staying in a dorm!
That looks fabulous! I'm glad you enjoyed your days in Miami--and there's nothing wrong with shopping, my friend!

That's a shame you missed out on things you wanted to do in New York. You'll just have to go back again, and plan like mad this time!!

miami looks nice! i've never been. i was supposed to go with my roommates in 1999 but it didn't work out. my dad was born just outside of miami and grew up there. but for some reason we just never made it down that far. usually we'd get distracted when we were in florida by all the stuff in orlando!
it's so cute that you guys are excited about abercrombie. i didn't realize you didn't have it in australia. you can have it!!!!! i can't stand that place. i used to like it until i realized that i was paying triple for the clothes there and after 2 washes they fall apart. yeah, i'll stick to old navy, gap and target. i'm a cheapo!

I totally understand not going to Miami when you could go to Orlando (and Disney World!) instead!! Especially when you were growing up!
Thanks for letting us keep Abercrombie! Heh! I especially love their cosy fleece hoodies. We've never had any of our clothes from there fall apart - maybe we're just lucky!! I like Gap too though! We don't have that either. (But we have Target!)

LIked your Miami installment. Awesome rooftop deck. We kind of felt the same way....were there, can say we did it....
We loved Key West. Can't wait to hear your take on it! So relaxed and laid back.

Good to know other people feel the same way about Miami! I think we have similar opinions about Key West... I'll tell you all about it very soon!!

 

[AussieAngel]

So after a relatively fun few days in Miami, it was time to leave! I don't think we were devestated to leave. In fact, I was quite excited! Heh! We were going to Key West, a place I'd always wanted to visit, and also because that meant we only had 3 more sleeps until we went to Disney World!!!

We checked out of our Miami hotel, and after over an hour waiting in line at the Alamo car place, we finally picked up our rented car! Phew! Lots of people were leaving Miami that day!!

Now in Australia, we drive on the left side of the road. And our steering wheel is on the right. So it took a little while to get used to driving on the opposite side of the road!! We've driven in America before, in California and Hawaii, so it wasn't really too bad. I'm still not brave enough to try it - Conan does all the driving, I'm afraid! I just do all the panicking and screaming, "Get over the the right!!!" Hehee.

Here's Conan looking very serious and concentrating hard, driving our cute little white car. I think it was a Dodge Avenger, does that sound right!?

The drive was quite pretty and especially fun driving over the big long bridges between the Florida Keys! Here's the 7 mile bridge...

We'd rented a GPS system too, which was awesome. Otherwise I would have had to direct, and we would never have made it! I'm not known for my sense of direction.

So it took around 3 and a half hours to drive all the way to Key West. We eventually arrived in the early afternoon, and found our cute little Bed & Breakfast, the Avalon...

The owners here were lovely and so helpful. They recommended some great restaurants to visit, and some fun places to see. Two cute little cats lived there as well - Tigger and Music. They were nice cats, but made me miss Annie a bit!

Here's our room - so pretty!! We loved it!

That afternoon we went for a little wander and explored some of the town. Straight away, we just loved Key West! It had such a relaxing, island vibe. People were so laid-back and friendly, and the whole place was so pretty and inviting! So much more comfortable than Miami.

Every night at sunset, there's a big party in Mallory Square, right by the water in Key West. We headed there that night, along with squillions of other tourists - a lot of them seemed to come from the cruise boat which was docked there. It was fun though, and very pretty!

We went to a beautiful restaurant that night, overlooking the water, and I had some fantastic shrimp and we shared some great wine. So far, so good in Key West!!

The next day was spent doing more wandering and exploring. We bought tickets and hopped on the little Conch Train that tours around the island...

Funny!! It was a cute little adventure, an we actually learnt lots along the way. Plus it was pretty hot that day, so it was a nice way of seeing a lot of the island without having to walk everywhere!!

We visited the Southernmost Point of the USA...

Just our luck - the day we visited it, some of the words had been painted over!! They were repainting it! Hehehee! This is what it's meant to look like...

Never mind!!

Here's Conan enjoying the relaxed vibe of Key West...

That night, we did some washing at the laundromat. How exciting!!

Our second full day in Key West was also our last day. Which meant... the next day we were leaving for Disney World! Wahooooooooo!!!! We had a big day planned that day - we had booked tickets online for a snorkelling and kayaking adventure!

This turned out to be one of our favourite days of our whole trip! We sailed out to a secluded snorkelling area, where we saw lots of little lobsters and cool fish, then headed to a mangrove area, which we kayaked around for a while. The tour guides were great and very relaxed, and there were only about 12 other people on the boat which made it very cruisey and personalised. It was just a really fun, cool day!!

Except that my legs got terribly, terribly sunburnt while we were kayaking!! Whoops!!! I was in so much pain that night. Silly girl!!!

But guess what... The next day, we were driving to Disney World!!!!!

I was so ridiculously excited! Conan was excited too, but not as much as me. I was nearly jumping around the room packing my suitcase that night. Weeee! Even though I could hardly move my legs from the sunburn. Ouch!!!

So we really loved Key West. It was just so relaxing and cute! We'd had a great time, and knew we had plenty more great times ahead of us at Disney!!

Next up... Our big exciting drive to Disney World!!

 

[jackdis]

I completely agree with you...the laid back, island feel is what we loved about Key West, too. Our hotel was a few blocks from the Southermost Point monument, at the quiet end of Duval St. - on the other end from Mallory Square. We loved going there and seeing the sunsets - and all the sights! Great people watching!!

 

[punkin413]

I just do all the panicking and screaming, "Get over the the right!!!" Hehee.

The drive was quite pretty and especially fun driving over the big long bridges between the Florida Keys! Here's the 7 mile bridge...

so pretty! i want to drive out there some day. my parents went out to key west on my dad's harley the year before i was born. my mom says that trip was just crazy. they drove from nashville and went through new orleans so it was a LONG trip, especially on a motorcycle! sometimes i wonder if maybe i wasn't conceived on that trip. but then i remember that i'm thinking about my parents and i get grossed out!!!!!

our cute little Bed & Breakfast, the Avalon...

The owners here were lovely and so helpful. They recommended some great restaurants to visit, and some fun places to see. Two cute little cats lived there as well - Tigger and Music. They were nice cats, but made me miss Annie a bit!

so cute!!! i love staying at B&Bs. we try to stay at them when we go to savannah and it's so nice to have nice owners that can recommend places to you. and they're usually so cute and personal - way more interesting than a hotel!

This turned out to be one of our favourite days of our whole trip! We sailed out to a secluded snorkelling area, where we saw lots of little lobsters and cool fish, then headed to a mangrove area, which we kayaked around for a while. The tour guides were great and very relaxed, and there were only about 12 other people on the boat which made it very cruisey and personalised. It was just a really fun, cool day!!

this sounds so cool! i've always wanted to go snorkeling.

hope your legs got better!

 

[jlcd]

Wow, what a great trip! Can't wait to read more.

 

[*KeepMovingForward*]

I love all your photos from Miami and Key West. It all looks so relaxing. Your room was really pretty there in Key West, nice sunset too. I had to laugh about Conan being the designated driver. I could never trust my DH to do the driving in another country. Instead, he gets to yell at me to stay to the left. I feel Conan's pain!

 

[trixiequilts]

Ahhh...Key West.

We rented bikes while we were there and just rode everywhere we wanted to go. It was really nice.

We went snorkeling, too and it was one of the worst experiences of my life! Because I tend to get a bit seasick, we took a catamaran, which was supposed to be very stable. It was extremely wavy that day, but the captain said we would be fine. So we get out to wherever we were going, jump in the water and saw nothing but barracudas! And the waves were so big, I was getting seasick from the waves while I was IN the water. Needless to say, the trip back in was horrible. I was face down on the deck almost the whole time trying to keep it together.

The rest of our time there was great and I'd love to go back.