PTR- Returning to the Dark Side

[RocketCityMama]

Hi! So I am hoping to do a little bit of a PTR before we head to the sunshine state in just about 3 weeks now! We visited USO/IOA last Summer in early June for the first time (I hadn't been in over 20 years) but the rest of the family had never been, so our first trip!

Intros: Me, Frances, stay at home mom and part time student (Penn State World Campus) studying Human Development and Family Studies, hope to one day work with parents of special need children, may eventually get my masters in social work, not sure yet! lol I am married to Leon, he's a Contract Manager, we will celebrate our 16th anniversary on the 27th of May. We have 3 girls, currently K is 6, H is 11 and J is 15.5, who are huge Harry Potter and Avenger Fans!

Here is our family picture

Here we are at USO last Summer

We had tons of fun and upgraded our tickets to AP's after 2 days lol so we are looking forward to our return trip!

Dates: May 28- we leave Alabama through June 5- return date.
So basically May 29-June 4 for vacation time!

Lodging: We are staying a Orange Lake Resort - my FIL owns a timeshare there, so we get to stay free, can't beat that!

We toyed with staying 1 night at RPR to get EPs but decided to skip it and just go with the flow. We found last Summer to not be that horrible with lines so we're hoping for the best this time as well, though I know Memorial Day itself will be busy. We will do early, take a mid day break, swim and then head back in the evening. Probably do more shows and site seeing that day vs rides.

I don't have set days for certain parks, we're just a wake up and go with whatever we feel like! We know we are going to eat at the Three B's again, but maybe we'll do the Leaky Culdron instead, still undecided. I look forward to butterbeer fudge and more frozen butterbeer! How could I not?

 

[schumigirl]

Lovely family picture there.......

I love your plan of doing what you fancy when you wake up.......that's exactly what we do and have never been disappointed yet!

Looking forward to hearing about your new trip.......

 

[Kivara]

Lovely pictures! Can't wait to read more about your trip (we will be there about the same time )

 

[RocketCityMama]

Lovely family picture there.......

I love your plan of doing what you fancy when you wake up.......that's exactly what we do and have never been disappointed yet!

Looking forward to hearing about your new trip.......

Thanks, it's really the best! We are likely doing Disney next Summer ( my youngest has not been) and the thought of the extreme planning makes me not even want to go LOL mostly because of all the changes and we're staying off site to save $$$!

Lovely pictures! Can't wait to read more about your trip (we will be there about the same time )

Thanks! I am sure you'll have a great time!

 

[RocketCityMama]

So our current thoughts on the week:

We arrive on Sunday at Orange Lake, after check in and grocery shopping for the week, we may head up to city walk and get some dinner and perhaps visit the parks for a couple hours, but it may depend on the crowd levels that day due to the holiday long weekend... If not there then I think we'll head over to the Cheesecake Factory for dinner and do a little outlet shopping I am especially interested in checking out the Nike clearance store because my kiddos are super involved in sports and I will always take a good deal on clothing for them.

Monday - may hit the parks early til lunch, head out to hotel, eat lunch, swim and relax before heading back out to the parks, also dependent on what crowd levels are like.

Tues-Thurs - park days, no particular order, just wherever we feel like going that day. We always do early morning, mid day lunch break at hotel and then back to the parks for dinner and the evening.

Fri- FIL and his wife are driving over from Venice and stopping in for a few hours to visit, they are on the way to Cocoa Beach for the weekend. So once we know more about their arrival time, that will dictate our morning/afternoon. We will def hit the parks that evening though!

Sat- normally we relax a bit but I think we'll try to hit the parks again, and do any last minute souvenir shopping, repeat fav rides and perhaps catch any shows we missed during the week. We won't close out the parks because we have to get packed up and ready for departure on Sun morning.

Sun - early morning departure, we have a 10-11 hour drive home and are driving back non stop so one of the kids can get to their camp on Monday morning!

 

[pattyw]

Sounds fun! We arrive June 1 and stay until June 12. We're looking forward to a possible soft opening for King Kong. Rumors say maybe late May- hopefully you'll tell us how the new ride is if they do soft opens! We're staying at HRH for 7 of our days. Maybe we'll see you at the park!

 

[schumigirl]

Sounds like a decent plan......nice and relaxed but good park time too.........I like it!!

We do like The Cheesecake Factory...........

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

I am a little late to the party, but I'm finally here!! When my friend Frances is planning another trip, I want to be part of the pre-vacation fun .

Your family is just gorgeous.....I adore your girls' beautiful blonde hair. I also can never get over how much you all look alike!!

Cheesecake Factory and the Nike Clearance Store sound like perfect ways to kick off your first day....you know both places get the Bo-Bina Family stamp of approval. Just be careful not to order too many appetizers......LOL, I speak from experience, as you know!

Please tell me there are going to be more matching shirts again this trip. I loved the ones you did the last time, especially the minins t's .

Looking forward to more!

 

[RocketCityMama]

Sounds fun! We arrive June 1 and stay until June 12. We're looking forward to a possible soft opening for King Kong. Rumors say maybe late May- hopefully you'll tell us how the new ride is if they do soft opens! We're staying at HRH for 7 of our days. Maybe we'll see you at the park!

We're pretty easy to spot LOL last summer we ran into the same family 3 days in a row on the way into the park from the parking garage, rode the elevator together each time. We thought it was pretty funny! I keep hoping for Kong, but I keep seeing hints of delays so who knows! We really want to stay on site once but with a free time share it's hard to say no!

Sounds like a decent plan......nice and relaxed but good park time too.........I like it!!

We do like The Cheesecake Factory...........

Yep, we're trying to enjoy it, will probably be the last USO trip for a bit, as we are hitting WDW next. I love Cheesecake factory soo much, they have 2 within 1.5 hour of us but we rarely go. So I am looking forward to this trip!

I am a little late to the party, but I'm finally here!! When my friend Frances is planning another trip, I want to be part of the pre-vacation fun .

Your family is just gorgeous.....I adore your girls' beautiful blonde hair. I also can never get over how much you all look alike!!

Cheesecake Factory and the Nike Clearance Store sound like perfect ways to kick off your first day....you know both places get the Bo-Bina Family stamp of approval. Just be careful not to order too many appetizers......LOL, I speak from experience, as you know!

Please tell me there are going to be more matching shirts again this trip. I loved the ones you did the last time, especially the minins t's .

Looking forward to more!

Yay Gina is here, party can start! lol Aww thanks, they are pretty cute if I say so myself! The other day at church, a friend came and sat down and started to talking to J about something and asked where the other kids were (from play practice) and she said still in the choir room. My friend did a double take because she thought she was talking to H. They did both have the same shirt on that day plus similar hair styles but it still cracked me up!

Yes appetizers can kill a meal or well make it where you still gorge yourself and have to roll to the car, not that I know anything about that!! We usually only order 1 between the 5 of us, so we can still eat our meal, but rarely do we make it to dessert, may have to do like you and take it to the room with us!

Shirts - similar themes for sure, we got them new Capt America shirts (well except little bit, I want to get her another spiderman one) and H has 2 new Harry Potter shirts, need to find something for the other two, just been slacking. K has a new minion shirt she got for her bday- so the other 2 still need those. Ahh we're running out of time!

 

[RocketCityMama]

We are 11 days out from leaving and I have SO much to do still! The older girls still need some Summer attire, shorts mainly and a couple shirts. I bought myself some nice merrill sandals for the trip and have been breaking them in. I normally wear tennis shoes but last Summer one rubbed my big toe so bad the toe nail came up and blistered bad. SOOO not this time! I figure the amount of walking we do less rubbing on my toes the better!

I need to start pre-planning our packing list, get out things we know we need to take that we do not use daily and pre-pack those items, like the ponchos, a little box fan we take on trips, sunscreen, misting fans and cooling towels. They are musts for us because of K's meds make her over heat very easily. I also need to find our portable dvd players and chargers, they are always a good deal to have on the trip. We used to have 1 but now have 3 LOL J got one for Christmas one year, then last Summer before our trip we went to a consignment sale and bought 2 more for less than $10 each, that had carrying cases. Now no one fights over what movie to watch on our long journey. Parenting WIN!

We are really trying to budget this trip to the least amount possible, we already have free room at my FIL timeshare. It's a 2 bedroom suite, yay for that! We have our AP's from last year, so no extra cost there. Biggest amount of money will be food. The younger girls got wands last year, so no need to buy those, unless my oldest decides she wants one but I can guarantee she will pick a hoodie over a wand any day! We plan to shop once we arrive for breakfast and lunch foods as we eat those at our room. We only eat out one meal a day, usually dinner and of course snacks and butterbeer.

I will remember this year to hang on to the bottles of water we bring in each day and refill at the freestyle machines, that will save us some money as well on drinks, minus at dinner and butterbeer! I think I have a problem, I think we had about 3 butterbeers a day, granted we shared 2-3 instead of buying 5 each time!

 

[RocketCityMama]

Single digit dance time! Only 9 days til we leave!

It is flying by, I am still running around trying to tie up loose ends. The girls last day of school is next Thursday and we celebrate our 16th anniversary on Friday. Lucky me I get to spend it packing and going crazy! haha but maybe hubs and I will sneak out for at least dinner alone if nothing else. We're hoping for an early bedtime so we can all get up and be on the road by 8 am Sat morning. We are driving down to Valdosta area I believe, so hopefully we are there around dinner time which is always a good time for us to stop.

After reading @Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina TR and knowing she did the pick a pearl at Sea World, I am going to thoroughly check it out when we are at USO, maybe it'll be my anniversary present too! I wanted to do it at Disney back in 2009 but we never got around to it. So we'll see what the pricing is like at the picking and jewelry store. I have seen some cages online, so I can always do that instead if things are too pricey there!

We are keeping an eye out for possible soft opening for Kong! It would be really cool if that happened but I am not holding my breathe on that! Though I would say they have to start soonish if they are doing media days later in June! Maybe by the end of our week! I will be sure to update everyone on that. I am trying to decide if I am going to brave it and ride some coasters. I didn't do anything like that except FJ (which is totally different) because in my old age I am just not a coaster person much anymore. I will definitely go on the hippogriff this time though! I don't know why I didn't last time but this time will be different! I will probably skip RRR because holy cow that is steep and I just don't think I can do it. Funny when I was a kid I was the dare devil, now I have kids I am like no I am good.

Something else we did not do last time was explore the Jurassic Park area. we made it up that way on the day we went to go meet super heroes and ran out of time, and never got back up there. So this time, we're making sure to hit it! Plus we want to do the encounter and kids and hubs want to do water rides, while little bit and I watch LOL I have no desire to be soaked! I feel like we saw just about everything else minus this oh and I guess the kids play areas, which we may check out while they do water rides!

Guess that is about all my updating I have to do at the moment! I am so excited and can't wait to be there!

 

[schumigirl]

Single digits is always something to celebrate!!!

Plans sound so good.........hope you're lucky enough to get a soft opening for Kong........and hope you try some coasters.........I understand your reluctance with RRR.......we love it, but before I went on it for the first time I stood about an hour just watching and was so nervous........but glad I did it.........

Will miss you setting off, so hope you all have a wonderful trip and look forward to reading about it when I get back..........

 

[kittylady1972]

How exciting for you! Can't wait to hear all about the trip!!

 

[RocketCityMama]

Single digits is always something to celebrate!!!

Plans sound so good.........hope you're lucky enough to get a soft opening for Kong........and hope you try some coasters.........I understand your reluctance with RRR.......we love it, but before I went on it for the first time I stood about an hour just watching and was so nervous........but glad I did it.........

Will miss you setting off, so hope you all have a wonderful trip and look forward to reading about it when I get back..........

I am hoping, I keep seeing rumors and it's all a waiting game! If we miss them, it'll probably be like the week after we leave LOL cause that is how lucky we are I bet your trip to NY will be fun! I want to go there soo bad, but it's SO far and flights for 5 aren't cheap LOL Would love to hear about it later!

How exciting for you! Can't wait to hear all about the trip!!

Thank you! I am excited and trying to keep myself occupied until we leave!

 

[RocketCityMama]

4 Days til Vacation!
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Ahhh how time is flying by this last week of school! My youngest as finished her classes at co-op two weeks ago. Still can't believe she is done with Kindergarten!! How does it go so fast?? She is semi ready for 1st grade but will miss her friends as she will start a private school in the fall, as long as my financial aid comes through correctly.

Last week my oldest daughter was recognized at our school board meeting for her cyber security team in the all services division (an all girl team!) and got a nice certificate from the superintendent/board. However it was SOO packed there were no pictures from us they recognized over 100 students in various aspects. It was standing room only and if you weren't one of the first ones in you didn't even get to be in the room.
However tonight the students and her team are being recognized at another local event (possibly military related) and hope to get photos tonight! I told her I would snap one of her with her certificate from last week tonight too since she'll already be in uniform. She is going to be a junior next year and is hopeful to have another all girls team in the all services division, they were SOO close to going to Nationals in DC. They did really well. She is talking right now of going to University of South Alabama in hopes to get an ROTC scholarship and then will go into the military once done in school. That scares the daylights out of me but I will support her if that is what she chooses.

My middle one had her 5th grade awards and bridging ceremony today. I am in straight denial she will be moving to middle school in the fall! Time is going by soo fast but I appreciate it at times, knowing they are doing what they love. She has her end of year picnic tomorrow, so I expect to hear all about the fun, games and food that will be there LOL

As far as the home front, just working on tying up loose ends, paying some bills before we go, start pre-packing the things for the trip that we don't need the next few days. I also still need to take the girls shopping for shorts and make sure their bathing suits are good to go. I am hoping they still fit from last year, don't really want to buy more so soon! lol

Thanks for reading along, I can't believe it's almost time to go!!

 

[Kivara]

Glad I'm not the only one with much more to do before our trip

 

[RocketCityMama]

Glad I'm not the only one with much more to do before our trip

Hahaha soo much to do still! Today is the last day of school! Yesterday I took the oldest shopping for shorts, got her 4 pair, she tried on her 2 bathing suits today, 1 fit, the other not so much LOL But I think we will must go with 1, we have a washer/dryer in the condo! And we likely won't swim every day anyway. I need to get a few more shorts for my 11 year old and I am done with that part!

Today's plans consist of washing clothes, paying bills, getting out suitcases etc. I know many people would have already packed by now LOL not us! Tomorrow hubby and I celebrate our 16th anniversary so I would like to get as much done today as I can so we can at least go out to dinner tomorrow night. Note to self, I need to buy a card LOL

I can't believe our trip is literally just around the corner now, we're anxiously awaiting Sat morning! I booked our Sat night hotel the other day. We are staying at a Comfort Suites in Valdosta GA. I didn't even think about it being Memorial Day weekend and hotels booking early but we paid less than $200 for a 2 queen beds and sofa bed suite which is perfectly for my family of 5. They also have free breakfast, which is always a PLUS!

 

[Kivara]

Congrats on the anniversary as well!

 

[macraven]

i'm late but wanted to know how much i enjoyed reading here.

you have a gorgeous family!!