Nina's Not So Scary Birthday Trip..an October Trip Report - Villians Dance Party 4/30

[MEK]

I see your TR bumped this morning so just stopping by to say Happy NY's. Hope you and the family have a wonderful 2014!

 

[Moira222]

Kathy, Judy & Mary Ellen -- thanks for your wonderful Christmas & New Year wishes!

I took a total hiatus over the Christmas break...I hung out with family & friends, watched Once Upon a Time on Netflix (Totally addictive!) and picked up reading the Girl With the Dragon Tattoo books again. I did very little online - facebook or DisBoards. Such a slacker!!!

Hope you all had a great holiday!!!

 

[Moira222]

So after a wonderfully relaxing Christmas where I totally kicked back and relaxed, I finally took a bit of time to work on my trip report, uploading photos etc. I've tried not to make them too tiny so hopefully I have the dimensions good for everyone.

Before I fill you all in on our next Disney day, I have to post a link to Katie getting her phone for Christmas. She has begged and begged and begged for the past year. Joe and I looked at different options, thought about it and recognized that its a good time for her to start having a phone - she is spending more time with friends, going to dances, etc. and adding her to our plan is less than even doing the trac phone option. so we found a phone (for less money than a good mp3 player!), and I set it up to be turned on Christmas Eve, emailed/messaged friends with her number and asked them all to call or text her for Christmas. I hid the phone in a little Christmas stocking tree decoration, and we waited until all the gifts had been opened in the morning to call the phone.

click here to watch the video on youtube

Hope you all had a wonderful holiday season and were able to spend time with friends and family - truly the greatest gift and blessing.

and now onto our Trip report


Sunday October 13

Sunday was our rest day – While planning our trip, Joe asked that I schedule a resort day so that we could really enjoy the resort and could reenergize from our travels. I knew that on arrival day that we’d be anxious to get to a park, so I picked the next day to relax.
Gotta remember the room number

Joe and I didn’t really sleep too late –7 or so and quietly got dressed & headed over to the gym. Generally we take off on weekends, but felt the urge to get a bit of exercise in because we knew that later in the week we wouldn’t have the time, or the energy! We didn’t take any photos of the gym, though it was a nice one. Work out complete, we went back to our room to shower & dress. We tried to stay relatively quiet, and sat out on our balcony for a little bit with a cup of coffee to make a plan for the day. Before long, Katie was up, then Nina.
I think I made pancakes for breakfast. The nice thing about bringing your own vehicle is that you can load it up – I generally pack dry goods like instant pancake mix, syrup, chocolate chips (a must for vacation breakfast!), bread, peanut butter, oatmeal. I also pack equipment from our camping kit – electric griddle, plastic plates and bowls, real silverware. You can cook a lot of stuff on an electric griddle!

Till we ate & cleaned up it was nearly 10 a.m. Joe, Katie & I decided to explore the resort. Nina was not quite ready to greet the day, so she hung back to take the morning at her own pace.
Elevator photo

We followed the walking path back around a lake. Just a gorgeous setting, birds, blue sky, lots of little geckos all over the place.

the building with our room was right across the roadway from the bus -- well we weren't in the first building, but that parking lot. it was an easy walk to catch a bus and pretty close to the paddock pool.

so where were we walking you ask?

Katie and I decided to check out the activities at the Community Hall. We had a great time – we made post cards and checked out the other activities listed on the board.

Joe, who had forgotten his camera, headed back to the room to get it and wandered around snapping photos for a while.

continued next post

 

[Moira222]

These Joe took at the main pool & around the lobby entrance:

We made plans to meet up at the pool around 2 p.m. where we hung out, enjoyed the hot tub and pool games.

And while at the pool, Katie requested to go back to the community center to paint ceramics.

Eventually we had to get ready for our dinner. Katie and I took a bit too long at the community hall, so we ended up driving to our dinner reservation.
Even though we couldn’t stay at our home resort, we could eat there! We headed to Old Key West for dinner at Olivias.
When it came to drinks, I told Joe that I had it on good advice that he needed to try the Turtle Crawl (I was driving darn it!). He approved!

Katie just had sweet tea

Instead of an entrée, Katie opted for soup and an appetizer
Crab Cakes - Served with tossed greens and Key lime mustard sauce

and Lobster bisque, the soup of the day

Joe ordered the famous onion rings

and the Meatloaf special

Nina ordered Slow-Roasted 10-oz Prime Rib - Served with Olivia's potatoes

I ordered Pan seared Sea Scallops - With creamy Polenta, asparagus, prosciutto crisp and tomato vinaigrette

Katie loved her crab cakes & soup. Nina had the soup also - I had a taste of Katie's. Delish!!! My scallops were yummy -- huge! and I enjoyed most of them..I'm not sure who "helped" me finish them, but I didn't take any back to the room with me.
Joe and Nina loved the onion rings and both said that their dinners were good -- not anything spectacular at all but the service, the drinks and the desserts were enough to keep Olivia's on our "return to" list for sure.
Desserts:
Mascarpone Cheesecake with seasonal berries for Katie

Nina was trying to make some efforts to watch her sugar intake and ordered
No sugar added Lemon Pound Cake - With seasonal Berries

and Joe discovered his new favorite
Banana Bread Pudding Sundae - Served warm with bananas foster topping and vanilla bean ice cream

I passed on dessert.

continued...

 

[Moira222]

After dinner, we needed to make a Walmart run. Sadly our quick run to Walmart turned in to a 90 minute fiasco of touring the greater Orlando area (ugh) and then a bit of Katie drama in the store. Sigh, no vacation seems complete without a bit of drama, and my girl is big on drama!
At long last (and I do mean long) we finally got back to the resort, make a quick stop in the room to drop a few things off, and we headed to the bus stop.

The nice thing about planning Sunday as a relaxation day was that I knew that if I were jonesing for some park time (which I knew I would be) that the Magic Kingdom was open til 2 a.m. YEEHA!

Joe’s landscape shot:

As a result of our earlier drama, tensions were running a bit high. It seemed very prudent for us to split up when we got to the Magic Kingdom. Joe & Nina headed off do their thing, and Katie and I did our thing.
What did we do?
As you can see from our entry photos, folks were lining up for the parade. Katie and I stopped in the fire house & collected a pack of Sorcerer’s Apprentice cards. As our turn at the desk arrived, Katie popped outside the door to watch the Electrical Parade get started. What luck to get a spot just as the floats came out!

For some strange reason, Pete’s Dragon did not wrap up the parade. Odd.
(stay tuned for the rest of the night....but I'll leave you hanging while I catch up on a few TR's before I fall asleep!)

 

[eandesmom]

Cynthia glad you could find me! But how can you have time to read? Christmas is coming and then you're on your way to the Happiest Place on Earth. woohoo

Well as you can see, I didn't! Holy cats was that a long travel day. 17 hours on the train....I could do it if I had a sleep car but not sure that I could the way you guys did it, it sounds painful (and I remember the FB updates about the return trip!). Still though, pretty cool to travel by train.

Congrats on all the weight loss, you both look great. I would have a hard time never ever being able to eat without something to drink, even if it was just water. That's commitment!

Nice to see you got out and enjoyed the resort but too bad about the Walmart drama. I love MK at night with all the Halloween decorations, magical!

 

[MEK]

Some of your pictures are actually twinkling. How is that possible? Is it an optical illusion? I am so confused. It looks really cool.

I love all the pictures you took of SSR. They are lovely. That resort is just so gorgeous. I rarely take time to smell the roses and take a resort day- it looks like a lot of fun.

OK - I've been to the Walmart and it is always crazy. That alone could lead to drama. Hope a nice evening in the MK made the drama subside fairly quickly.

 

[Moira222]

Well as you can see, I didn't! Holy cats was that a long travel day. 17 hours on the train....I could do it if I had a sleep car but not sure that I could the way you guys did it, it sounds painful (and I remember the FB updates about the return trip!). Still though, pretty cool to travel by train.

The sleep cars are tiny from what I've heard. No way my 6'5" hubby would be close to comfortable so it didn't seem worth the extra cost. Lesson learned though --- travel with a cocktail and really good ear plugs (the foamy kind just don't cut it) for sleeping.

Congrats on all the weight loss, you both look great.

Thanks!!

I would have a hard time never ever being able to eat without something to drink, even if it was just water. That's commitment!

that is absolutely my biggest challenge Cynthia. sometimes I break the rule just a little ....like a bit or two of cheese with wine. I mean, COME ON. but I try not to for a variety of reasons.

Nice to see you got out and enjoyed the resort but too bad about the Walmart drama. I love MK at night with all the Halloween decorations, magical!

sigh. drama. never without drama in my house!

Some of your pictures are actually twinkling. How is that possible? Is it an optical illusion? I am so confused. It looks really cool.

I use google photos & they have started adding special effects to some photos. At first it annoyed me that they were tweaking my photos, but then I realized that it really does look cool. so hey, why not just go with it!

I love all the pictures you took of SSR. They are lovely. That resort is just so gorgeous. I rarely take time to smell the roses and take a resort day- it looks like a lot of fun.

OK - I've been to the Walmart and it is always crazy. That alone could lead to drama. Hope a nice evening in the MK made the drama subside fairly quickly.

Does Disney have a non-gorgeous property? LOL Joe was pretty adamant about a resort day, and frankly he was right. It was a great idea! I think it helps that this was our second week long trip for the year, and are finally getting to a less crazy pace. We will definitely work resort time into future trips...more than just a 1-2 hour break mid day. It was nice to be able to kick back during the day.

The drama did subside and of course how could an evening at MK not help with that?

 

[KatMark]

I am so sorry I totally missed your update.

Love the video of Katie getting her phone.

I love your tour of Saratoga Springs; we've gone once and saw the restaurant and the pool near the restaurant, but that's about it.

Looks like a fun time at the Community Center.

I'm so glad that Joe approved the Turtle Krawl (can't wait to have one...or two...in May).

Dinner looks good; I love scallops and will have to remember they have those at Olivia's.

I'm told there is always some drama with girls (probably a good thing we had boys...don't think my husband would have survived it).

I love seeing the parade from where it first comes out. Another thing on my must do-list is see the Electrical Parade...I've not seen it since it came back.

Can't wait to hear what's next.

 

[Moira222]

I am so sorry I totally missed your update.

no apologies needed Kathy! I have such a hard time keeping up on the DIS...if I don't catch an update right away then I am ridiculously behind (as you well know!)

Love the video of Katie getting her phone.

LOL no drama there, right? not too excited or anything. my silly girl.

I love your tour of Saratoga Springs; we've gone once and saw the restaurant and the pool near the restaurant, but that's about it.

I really am glad that Joe insisted on some downtime. it was nice to walk around and explore a bit. We still have not eaten at the TS there, but did stop at the Artists Palette (CS) and the "snack bar" at the Paddock Pool. no complaints here!

Looks like a fun time at the Community Center.

I'd read quite a while ago about the Community Hall ...I think on one of Brooke's TR's.. and I was so intrigued that I wanted to check out SSR's. It was a nice little area. crafts for kids of all ages, movies and video games for renting/borrowing, equipment for use for things like the ping pong tables. The staff was really very nice and helpful as well.
Aside from the ceramics that we painted, everything was free. and having painted ceramics at quite a few campgrounds, the prices were extremely reasonable, which is not something you hear about Disneyworld! LOL

I'm so glad that Joe approved the Turtle Krawl (can't wait to have one...or two...in May).

Dinner looks good; I love scallops and will have to remember they have those at Olivia's.

Next time I will not be driving and will get to try that Turtle Krawl. I was quite jealous!!

The scallops were good too, I really enjoyed them.

I'm told there is always some drama with girls (probably a good thing we had boys...don't think my husband would have survived it).

yes, drama....there are days when I'm not sure any of us will survive it ...those smilies pretty much sum up about an hour with Katie on some days. yes, the SAME hour LOL

I love seeing the parade from where it first comes out. Another thing on my must do-list is see the Electrical Parade...I've not seen it since it came back.

Can't wait to hear what's next.

you don't have to wait....I"m posting it right now!

(and I love seeing the electrical parade!)

 

[Moira222]

After the parade, we totally had to go see the Main Man…er Mouse

Katie had her hat signed. Me, I had an extra special item to get signed. Before our trip, Joe decorated canvas totes for each of us to take to MNSSHP. I had decided early on that this was going to be my autograph central for our trip. Sadly, I was only able to get autographs from Mickey & Minnie. That bummed me out, I thought I’d be able to get villain autographs, but that was not to be.
Each of our bags has our “alter egos” – the good and the bad.
Joe’s bag:

hmmm this is rather telling of my hubby, don't you think?
Katie’s bag

My bag:

Mickey was quite taken with my unofficial and somewhat naughty Tink in a Pirate costume. His heart went a bit crazy but I promised not to tell Minnie that he was taken with the pint sized pixie.

I'm not sure what I did with my photos of Nina’s bag..bummer. Her’s is cool with Grumpy and the Evil Queen from snow white.

(hopefully I'll get to add the photos here.

After hanging with Magician Mickey, Katie and I decided to head back to Tomorrowland, stopping and window shopping as we walked along.

We had to take a ride on the People Mover!

and stop for some popcorn.

Joe’s other sister Deb is a huge fan of Dumbo, so we had to buy the Dumbo container for her (we took care of the popcorn of course!)
Next up, some Galactic Battle time!

the faceless redneck photo!

I have no photos of either, but I am pretty sure that we visited both the Carousel of Progress and Space Mountain.

 

[Moira222]

We made our way across the park to the Haunted Mansion

at this point my phone battery was nearly dead, so I had to stop taking photos.
We did a bit of shopping at the store outside the HM. Neat stuff, and there were a few goodies that I was eyeing but in the end, only Katie made a purchase. You'll see it one of the shots below - a Perry the Platypus water bottle. (which did not hold up very well I am sad to say)
I remember texting Joe & Nina to see where they were. It was about 1 am, and Katie and I were in line for Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. They were back in the room getting ready for bed. HA! We road BTMRR again because we could.
I'm sorry I had no photos because I just love how clear the park is at night from the top of mountain. Not that you have lots of time to see, but you have enough, and its just beautiful.
I think we made our way slowly out of the park after BTMRR. But stopping for a photo or two where we found Photographers

Apparently after 1 a.m. is the best bet for catching the PPP at the entrance near the pumpkins. Most of the time we walked by there was a crazy line for that shot!
We caught the bus back to Saratoga Springs and got ready for bed as quietly as possible since Joe & Nina were sleeping. Have I mentioned how much I love being in the MK at night? And theres just something fun about being out with Katie til the wee hours&.we just have fun doing our girl thing.
(and now I am logging off anticipating a very full Girl Scout weekend. Tomorrow night is our regular meeting and Saturday into Sunday we are winter camping with another troop in the Pocono mountains. This will be the first time I've been GS camping since I was just a bit older than Katie. Should be fun!!!)

Here are two photos from when Joe was working on the bags this summer:
The artist at work

Nina's bag:

 

[MEK]

I'm so impressed with Joe's artwork! Very, very nice! those bags are great!

What a fun night at MK. I wish I didn't always wake up at the crack of dawn so that I could stay up longer at night. I don't think Ive ever made it to 1am at the MK. Someday. Maybe.

Great update!

 

[eandesmom]

Joe is very talented!!!!!!!!!! those are quite fun and what a special thing to make. Nice to have a night with just the 2 of you and create some of your own memories. I know what you mean about the pumpkin lines but oh the pictures are so cute!

 

[Moira222]

I'm so impressed with Joe's artwork! Very, very nice! those bags are great!

What a fun night at MK. I wish I didn't always wake up at the crack of dawn so that I could stay up longer at night. I don't think Ive ever made it to 1am at the MK. Someday. Maybe.

Great update!

Thanks Mary Ellen - I will tell him.

We try to rest/nap mid day, when its really hot. That really helps with the late night. But it definitely catches up with us. And (spoiler) we did not have nearly as many early mornings as I would like. Joe teases me about getting him up at the crack of dawn at ?Disney. I do wait till past sunrise (usually)

Joe is very talented!!!!!!!!!! those are quite fun and what a special thing to make. Nice to have a night with just the 2 of you and create some of your own memories. I know what you mean about the pumpkin lines but oh the pictures are so cute!

Joe is so talented -- many times he wishes he'd been more encouraged in his youth to go further with his art. oh well. Katie seems to have inherited her daddy's art talent, and we definitely foster it.

As she gets older I love having some "girl time" at the parks, and she and I definitely like the late hours at MK especially. Something about the castle and the attractions in the dark is so much more fun.

working today but update soon plus some Girl Scout winter camping photos!

 

[KatMark]

Nice job on the bags by Joe. I had no idea he had such artistic talent.

What a fun night you and Katie had with the parks. It's always nice to have some one on one time with your child.

You got in some great rides. And I love the photopass pictures.

 

[Moira222]

Nice job on the bags by Joe. I had no idea he had such artistic talent.

What a fun night you and Katie had with the parks. It's always nice to have some one on one time with your child.

You got in some great rides. And I love the photopass pictures.

Thanks Kathy. Joe really wanted to be a Disney or Marvel animator. But he gets to be a superhero in real life now instead of just drawing them

Katie and I do enjoy that park time. She is looking forward to some solo Daddy time in June.

FUN rides! The only ride we missed that really wanted to do was Pooh. The wait said "35" but after we waited 45 minutes and were not even close to the ramp up, we had to go. but that was a different day. and at least we got to play!!

 

[MEK]

I know you are in sunny Florida right now and I hope you are having a wonderful time!

 

[Moira222]

I know you are in sunny Florida right now and I hope you are having a wonderful time!

Mary Ellen you snuck this in & I didn't see it. I took advantage of all of our snow days to write up a little TR from our weekend. Wish I was you, going back in less than 2 weeks now!!!

 

[Moira222]

Not that I’ve been terribly on top of things but I am veering off of our October trip to interject a quick weekend get away. Nothing like the promise of some Florida sun when you’ve been dealing with snow, ice, and single digits!

Joe and I had plans to fly out on Allegiant air to Sanford at 10:25 Friday morning. We’d be luxuriating in some sun by the afternoon. So we thought.

Snuggling with Katie for the night (she wanted mommy time before we left for the weekend) my cellphone rang at 2 a.m. WHAAATTT an automated recording from the airline telling me our flight was rescheduled. Aargh! So at 2 am I am in bed on my cell trying to find other flights, find out what was the problem and how the heck we were going to get to Florida now! Eventually I fell back asleep and before I knew it the 6:00 alarm was ringing away. Grr. I took my laptop down to the basement gym so that I wouldn’t wake Joe, but he was already working out. Oh well. Sharing the misery I looked for alternatives so that when the airline finally did open I could have a plan. NOT the way I planned on starting the morning!

Eventually I called, and after waiting quite a long time on hold, was able to talk to someone and get on a flight to Punta Gorda which had been rescheduled from the day before. More time to make changes to our car rental and then time to walk the dog & get ready.

When we got to the airport we found out the 12:25 was pushed back to 3:10 pm.

(can you tell we were texting photos to Katie?) Ugh. We took our time before going through the security check and up to the gate. Joe stopped at the desk to chat with the Allegiant agent there (he works at the airport so knows everyone!)

and find out what the story was with the Punta Gorda flight. She suggested we switch to the St. Petersburg flight (which I had wanted in the morning but was full) because Punta Gorda had some very bad weather causing the delays. OK…. Flight changed.

On my nook changing car rental (again!) and then a call to the hotel just to say even though we had confirmed reservations we’d be arriving pretty late. Good thing we called because when Allegiant pushed our flight back a day they called and canceled our first night in the hotel! Make a note –if you book a package with allegiant and your flights change, double check your other linked reservations!

FINALLY we caught a very full flight at 7:30 to St. Petersburg FL. It was crowded but pretty uneventful. We arrived at St. Petersburg / Clearwater airport.

We picked up our rental car and drove the 1 ½ hours to Orlando in the fog and rain. We completely understood the flight delays. Driving was challenging, I would not want to be a pilot.

We arrived at the Wyndham about 11:30 or so.

We quickly dumped our stuff and headed over to Downtown Disney in search of some food. We had each had something light at the airport about 4 pm and then had only some sunflower seeds all evening. We were tired and hungry, but hungry won!

even the birds were done for the night

We walked through the DRD area and then headed up to Pleasure Island. There was quite a party going on in the patio at Raglan Road, but Joe was wondering what else there was. We headed all the way back but after midnight most placed were closed or only serving drinks. We were just about to order something at the bar at Splitsville when the manager came out & told the cashier that the kitchen was closed. Sigh. So we went back to Raglan Road, and by then they too were done serving food. ARGH

Did I mention being hungry and tired? We walked back to the hotel and on the way I told Joe I’d run up to the Goodings grocery store up the road and come up with something. He’d hurt his knee about a week or so earlier and it was really bothering him so he stayed back at the room. Goodings is right up the road from Downtown Disney in the shopping center across Apopka Vineland Blvd. They are a 24 hour store, but definitely still Disney pricing. Still I picked up some water, egg salad, tuna salad, bread flats and a small jar of peanut butter. Not exactly what we’d had in mind for dinner, but when you’re exhausted and hungry, it’ll do. They’d had a nice cheese & fruit tray that would have been perfect but I wasn’t even sure if we had a fridge or a coffee maker in the room so had to pick something either small or shelf stable.

We had our simple dinner (really simple I know!) and then crashed about 2 a.m. At least we were in Florida, and knew we would make the most of the next two days.



Saturday we were up fairly early (7:30) but later than usual and quickly woke up & got dressed. We had agreed the night before to just hit the Mcdonald’s up the road for coffee. The room had little coffee packets that made single servings in the coffee maker. It wasn’t awful but it wasn’t great either. We hit McD’s and went inside for coffee & Joe had an egg sandwich. While we were in there the skies just opened up pouring, so we enjoyed our coffee a bit longer before running through the raindrops to our car.

Park of the morning you ask? Animal Kingdom! Not sure but DAK frequently is my first park of the trip. I think because its an early morning park in my book and usually it closes early and we can do a second park later. At any rate, we entered pretty easily and took our time heading back to our favorite safari ride. We stopped to take in some wildlife, and throughout the day we earned a few of our Wilderness Explorer badges. I didn’t bring the books in with me (too rainy) but we asked for the stickers when we did the activities & I put them in later.

It started raining pretty heavily again so we stopped in a shop to see what was new. I love the merchandise at Animal Kingdom, and a lot of it is unique to this park (maybe some at the AKResorts). I need to go back & pick up one of these black mugs. Though I saw a tree of life mug too. Hmm decisions decisions