How long will the ride be down do you know?
Brandi, they haven't released exact dates, but they are forecasting it down from April through September for refurb. They are redoing, adding interactive displays, etc from what we hear. It is still one of our faves before they do anything else to it.
So we ended up getting a great rate of $87 per night for the Westin on Universal Drive (right by the convention center). We liked the hotel in a lot of ways, but we had a few points that made it one we will likely not plan a return for; 1)REALLY bad water pressure in the rooms, the tub took 20 minutes plus to fill even halfway close to enough for a bath, and Rick said his shower was really low pressure, too. 2)pool staff not enforcing rules/rowdy guests (which I know can happen anywhere, but they had a bunch of dance groups there, as young as 6 year olds, and there were about 30 kids between 6-12 years old that we completely unsupervised running around, filling the hot tub, plus several adults that were completely drunk and carrying their beers in the pool and hot tub (including taking them open with them when they "fell" under in the hot tub full of 11 & 12 year olds). 3)extra charges- they charge $15 for internet which we didn't pay, $13 for self parking or $20 for valet + tax on the parking, and they had a couple bottles of water in the room that clearly said complimentary, but they charged $2 per bottle on the final bill. But on the plus side, gorgeous property, very friendly, we had a 1 bedroom suite, beds were really comfy, bathroom was HUGE.
We ended up hitting DTD, had our "dinner" at 3 at T Rex, Meag did a build a dino (don't know when she'll outgrow the stuffed animals, I swear she has hundreds, but it was her money), then the kids wanted to do the design a t, so we went down there, they both did that with their allowance money. While waiting on the shirts, we walked to guest services to get Meag's AP replaced as she had lost her lanyard which had her pass in it, then went to Goofy's candy to kill a little time, Rick and the kids made themselves a treat (marshmallows for Meag, rice krispie treat for Catie, and pretzel rods for Rick). Picked up the shirts, by this time it is almost 6:30, so we headed back to the car, drove to the hotel and checked in, and decided that we would rather swim that night, after which we ordered pizza through the hotel for a late snack and headed to bed. We had an 8:25am ADR for Tusker House, which was as good as usual, but I think I need to quit the buffets, paying $135 for a buffet breakfast is crazy high to me. When we go to non buffets we share meals, or like Catie and I split appetizer at T Rex, etc. so it is just not economical, especially since Meag literally ate 1 chocolate croissant, 1/2 banana, 1/2 donut, 1 Mickey Waffle (kidsized), 1 slice bacon, 4 spoonfulls of rice krispies. It is insane. But anyway, we did the safari, still the old version with Little Red, which is good with Meag, she loves that little elephant. The animals were out and active, with the exception of the lion and the cheetahs, but they rarely are out where you can see them, or awake, for that matter. Headed to EE, where Rick rode single rider, while we got fast passes for later. Hit Dinoland, my kids LOVE Primevil Whirl, and Catie loves Triceratops Spin, then Rick and Catie went to Dinosaur (meag is scared of it) while Meag and I headed for the boneyard. She ended up spending about an hour there, Rick and Catie came and got the fast passes for EE and went back to ride that too, after which Meag decided she did not want to do Lion King this time, so we headed out of the park @ 11:45am. We stopped at the McDonalds there for lunch, then went to Epcot. The crowds weren't bad there really, TT was listing 60 minutes, and I got in that line anyway, since that was what she wanted to ride especially. It would have actually been about 45 but the ride went down for about 20 minutes. But Spaceship Earth was 5 minutes when we got there, and also at 6ish when we were heading towards the exit (rode twice), Seas was walkon, so was Figment and Living with the Land, and pretty much everything in Innoventions. We spent a LONG time in Innoventions, they did every activity in there, I think, maybe more than once in some cases for Meag (she and I stayed there while Rick and Catie went to ride Mission Space), and spent about an hour in the Project Tomorrowland area after Spaceship Earth the second time, they love all those games/activities in there too. We stopped at my sister's house on the way out of town to pick up Meag's birthday present, she got the Hermione Granger wand and a couple Universal tank tops, which she was excited about, went through Taco Bell for a quick supper and hit the road for home @ 7:30. We got home @ 9:15, and Meag went straight to bed, the rest of us weren't far behind her, I think we were all out by 10, which is really early. The girls are off school today, and got up @ 8:30, so are having a relaxing morning at home on their own. My mother MAY come get them this afternoon and bring them over to her house to swim in her community pool, she wasn't sure what the schedule looked like.
Back atcha Brandi! How is the work week going?
I would love to be home to, or at least out of debt enough not to have to work so much. But we all love our trips & travel!
by a lot than AoA when I looked.
