Oh, The Places We’ll Go! From the “stars” to the “sea”: Universal, SeaWorld & beyond - Spring 2016

[pigletto]

Congrats to Jake and his proud parents today!!!

Loved all the updates. Again.. busy like crazy but reading along where I can!

 

[sk8jdgca]

Congratulations and enjoy the moment. I can't believe how old Jake looked in grade 8

 

[pattyw]

Gina- we're currently in Orlando and have visited Universal several times. The sledgehammer game has been closed each time. I said to DH- they must be afraid Steve is here!

Planning to hit Steak & Shake- hoping to see Kenny!

 

[Worfiedoodles]

Congratulations to the Bo Bina Family! I am just catching up and won't be reading for a few days because my ds18 is graduating from high school on Monday. We just commented that at his last graduation (Kindergarten) he was very excited because he received a stuffed bear. We wouldn't get the same reaction this time Love that you have the progression of all those graduations!

Add me to those who have never tried Nutella. Maybe someday...

Love the breakfast interactions, those were amazing! It is very telling that this was a trip highlight, because you always do so much and have such a great time. I take all your recommendations seriously, you know your stuff!

Maria

 

[Mrs Doubtfire]

Great Character breakfast which looked right up your street not a bad price too. I think I will be giving the Disney ones a miss if they go to $60 per person!!

Hope you enjoy the graduation, as you say, time certainly flies by and you wonder where all the years have gone , but Jake has grown into a lovely young man who I can see you are very proud of

 

[bankr63]

It is possible to lead a cow up stairs but not down stairs

Which is why abattoirs are never located in basements?

 

[dancin Disney style]

Planning to hit Steak & Shake- hoping to see Kenny!

Tell him I said Hi

 

[dancin Disney style]

Which is why abattoirs are never located in basements?

No, a basement would just be dark and scary.

 

[Ruthie5671]

Congratulations to Jake on his graduation. Your post on FB this morning had me all teary eyed.

And your boys were definitely good sports in wearing the Minions shirts. I had almost thought you would be matching, but that might have been taking it a bit too far!

 

[tortilla24]

Congrats to Jake! What a bittersweet time for you

 

[JenLanDisney]

This is fairly off topic, but I thought of you, Gina.
A family painted their silo as a minion:
http://wane.com/2016/06/08/family-turns-farm-silo-into-giant-minion/

 

[ArwenMarie]

Oh my goodness, look at baby Jake striking a pose! 1999? Was 1999 that long ago? Yikes!

Enjoy the day, what an accomplishment, I know you are very proud of him

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

Thanks to all for all the sweet and wonderful posts! It was a great day of celebrations.....Jake not only was named to the Dean's List, but he was also the 2016 recipient of the Community & Justice Services Faculty Award.

I will do my best to get back on track with this report tomorrow .

 

[Dynamoliz]

Great photo. Congratulations to Jake on all of his accomplishments.

 

[juniorbugman]

Lovely family photo and keep the report coming. Great entertainment. Judy

 

[JaxDad]

Great picture Gina! Congratulations to Jake AND you and Steve!

 

[mmdis]

Love all the old photos of jake and congratulations. I'm so happy for your family he was selected for a award. Is that your mom in the picture? It is fun to see her after hearing all about her in your reports. My oldest is finishing his freshman year of HS today. I can't believe I only have 3 more years till he is off to college

 

[sk8jdgca]

I was going to say that grandma has a lot of hair with a bun that big...but I think it is a man behind her...bit of an optical illusion. Great picture and congratulations on all of Jake's accomplishments

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

Congratulations to Jake and you and Steve!!!
Wow time goes fast-My oldest just registered for classes at her college yesterday-class of 2020.

Enjoy your day

Nice write up about the breakfast. We did it too, and we enjoyed it. But with the big price increase, it will be a pass this time.

Went to Chili's last night. There's one 5 minutes from us. All agreed, apps and dessert are what we would order again. Our entrees were nothing to write home about, and our waiter, while decent, took almost 20 minutes to correct an error on our bill. We won't be back for some time.

Congratulations to Jake! Time does fly. Older one is going to college in the fall. Little boy no more either. Have to wait to 2023 before the younger one is done college. Three more years of high school for her first.

Congrats to Jake and his proud parents today!!!

Loved all the updates. Again.. busy like crazy but reading along where I can!

Congratulations and enjoy the moment. I can't believe how old Jake looked in grade 8

Congratulations to the Bo Bina Family! I am just catching up and won't be reading for a few days because my ds18 is graduating from high school on Monday. We just commented that at his last graduation (Kindergarten) he was very excited because he received a stuffed bear. We wouldn't get the same reaction this time Love that you have the progression of all those graduations!

Add me to those who have never tried Nutella. Maybe someday...

Love the breakfast interactions, those were amazing! It is very telling that this was a trip highlight, because you always do so much and have such a great time. I take all your recommendations seriously, you know your stuff!

Maria

Great Character breakfast which looked right up your street not a bad price too. I think I will be giving the Disney ones a miss if they go to $60 per person!!

Hope you enjoy the graduation, as you say, time certainly flies by and you wonder where all the years have gone , but Jake has grown into a lovely young man who I can see you are very proud of

Congratulations to Jake on his graduation. Your post on FB this morning had me all teary eyed.

And your boys were definitely good sports in wearing the Minions shirts. I had almost thought you would be matching, but that might have been taking it a bit too far!

Congrats to Jake! What a bittersweet time for you

Oh my goodness, look at baby Jake striking a pose! 1999? Was 1999 that long ago? Yikes!

Enjoy the day, what an accomplishment, I know you are very proud of him

Great photo. Congratulations to Jake on all of his accomplishments.

Lovely family photo and keep the report coming. Great entertainment. Judy

Great picture Gina! Congratulations to Jake AND you and Steve!

Love all the old photos of jake and congratulations. I'm so happy for your family he was selected for a award. Is that your mom in the picture? It is fun to see her after hearing all about her in your reports. My oldest is finishing his freshman year of HS today. I can't believe I only have 3 more years till he is off to college

Thank you everyone . I read Jake all of the notes of congratulations and good wishes that you posted and he was very, very touched.

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

So, going back to the chatter about the character meals......definitely (and kind of sadly) I think that many of the Disney characters interact with us differently because we don't have a child in our party. I appreciated that this wasn't the case at the Superstar Character Breakfast, because while we don't have any little kids, we do still enjoy the experience. We are "kids at heart", if you will . I can say I was very disappointed in our interaction with Mickey at Ohana's in December (and Ohana's breakfast has long since been a family favourite, so they have to do A LOT to disappoint me). It was my brother's first Disney experience of any kind, and I'll be honest....I was hoping for a little magic for him. Mickey Mouse, the character I was MOST excited for him to meet, was the worst character interaction we've ever had.....he literally seemed to not want to bother with our table at all. For the $30 a person we paid, I expected better. We still enjoyed ourselves, but the disappointment (and perhaps dissatisfaction?) was significant enough for me that I almost considered emailing Disney's guest relations with my feedback. We, too, have certainly had some spectacular interaction with Disney characters over our 10 trips to Orlando, but the best of them were on our first trip in 2009. Again, maybe because Jake was younger and the characters found that easier? It's hard to say.


As for the proposed increase to at least some of the character buffets.....let me be the first to say there's no way in heck I'd pay $60 an adult to dine at Chef Mickey's unless there are huge changes to their menu. While I have no problem paying a premium price for a premium experience (especially when it includes a meal), unless there have been major changes to the food quality since we ate there on our first Disney trip, I couldn't rationalize that jump in cost. I'm sure many others, though, will be still content to pay it: especially as the parks get busier and meeting the characters takes up more time in an already packed park day.

It makes me wonder, though, if we shouldn't try to squeeze in Hoop De Doo Revue sooner rather than later. It's always been on our wish list of things to do in Orlando, and now the price is almost comparable to Chef Mickeys. I worry that the cost for that experience, too, will see a hefty increase as other lower priced options are raised in cost to be similarly valued.