tampabrat22
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Jan 25, 2007
- Messages
- 411
Hi everyone! Like many others here on these boards, I love reading trip reports! I've been wanting to write our frist report....so with a little less than a week till we head to Orlando, I thought I would get it started!
First I guess I should introduce our group:
Me- Jessica (32) Mom, overworked, travel & cruise lover, obsessive planner, photographer
Linda (58) Grandma, coffee lover, scared of roller coasters, over packer, wrapped around Jaden's little finger
Tristan (11) Son, super smart, gamer, reptile lover, black belt karate kid, mama's boy
Jaden (6) Daughter, shy, family princess, sweetheart, girly girl, Disney lover, Birthday girl
Ashley (16) Niece, typical teen, loves Roller Coasters, cell/text addict, boy crazy, my other "baby"
A few pictures of us;
My kids (my daughter was really tired, long day on a cruise
)
Me, my Mom, and DD
My niece
About 6 months ago we started tossing around idea's for my DD's 7th bday! Last year she had a princess tea party and I really don't want to do all that work again. I asked my DD where she wanted to go for her b-day and she decided she really wants to see Spongebob & The Cat in the Hat so...US and IoA here we come!!
I've been to both of these parks many times, and took my niece to IoA when she was about 10 yrs old but my mom and my kids have never been to either park. I'm excited to take them for their first time!
So, as I started planning out this years trips, we thought we would do a few days in Orlando for her b-day, and our usual cruise in the Fall. I booked a cruise for Dec. 2009 (minus the kids) and then in late January I was lucky to snag a really good deal on 4 day Disney cruise
, so now with 3 trips in the works I knew we would have to budget carefully. My kids don't know about the Disney cruise yet (it will be an Easter surprise), I figure this trip was enough excitement for now, lol! And as luck would have it, my DD's b-day fell right in the middle of Spring Break! So thats great, EXCEPT that we hate crowds and the parks will probably be packed, but I really don't want the kids to miss too much school. So it looks like we will be going 4/6/09-4/9/09.
And, like I was saying, budget, we need to make this trip affordable, and by that I mean like less than $1000 and I'm really aiming to keep it below $600
! Sounds crazy right? No not really, this is do-able, since we have lucked out in a few areas! I'll explain more in detail later...
First I guess I should introduce our group: Me- Jessica (32) Mom, overworked, travel & cruise lover, obsessive planner, photographer Linda (58) Grandma, coffee lover, scared of roller coasters, over packer, wrapped around Jaden's little finger Tristan (11) Son, super smart, gamer, reptile lover, black belt karate kid, mama's boy Jaden (6) Daughter, shy, family princess, sweetheart, girly girl, Disney lover, Birthday girl Ashley (16) Niece, typical teen, loves Roller Coasters, cell/text addict, boy crazy, my other "baby"A few pictures of us;
My kids (my daughter was really tired, long day on a cruise
)
Me, my Mom, and DD
My niece
About 6 months ago we started tossing around idea's for my DD's 7th bday! Last year she had a princess tea party and I really don't want to do all that work again. I asked my DD where she wanted to go for her b-day and she decided she really wants to see Spongebob & The Cat in the Hat so...US and IoA here we come!!
I've been to both of these parks many times, and took my niece to IoA when she was about 10 yrs old but my mom and my kids have never been to either park. I'm excited to take them for their first time!
So, as I started planning out this years trips, we thought we would do a few days in Orlando for her b-day, and our usual cruise in the Fall. I booked a cruise for Dec. 2009 (minus the kids) and then in late January I was lucky to snag a really good deal on 4 day Disney cruise
, so now with 3 trips in the works I knew we would have to budget carefully. My kids don't know about the Disney cruise yet (it will be an Easter surprise), I figure this trip was enough excitement for now, lol! And as luck would have it, my DD's b-day fell right in the middle of Spring Break! So thats great, EXCEPT that we hate crowds and the parks will probably be packed, but I really don't want the kids to miss too much school. So it looks like we will be going 4/6/09-4/9/09.And, like I was saying, budget, we need to make this trip affordable, and by that I mean like less than $1000 and I'm really aiming to keep it below $600
! Sounds crazy right? No not really, this is do-able, since we have lucked out in a few areas! I'll explain more in detail later...
.
) is:
on the cruise I thought about the fact that we are rarely at the hotel anyways and since this will be a short trip I figured we might as well save money in this area.
! The kids will get enough Disney on the cruise in Oct. so that is just fluff we can do without.
It was a short trip, but I think we managed to do plenty of activities and we had lots of fun.
. 
my babies growing up way too fast!! 
. I mean we were all getting tired, the kids were getting bored with the long lines and this was probably not the ride to get on at this point. It's just such a long process...first you wait in line for an hour, then you are herded into a room where you wait another 15+ minutes and they select volunteers. Then you move over to another room where they do some stunt demonstrations and such, and I do have to say the "Frank Kincaid" illusion is awesome, it really looks like he is right there on the stage!! So then you are moved to another room (now in the third room) and a few more effects are done. Then it's time for the ride, finally, after what about 30+ minutes?
The ride part is good, I actually don't think they changed anything about this part since it was Earthquake, and the "surprise" video you see at the end is cute! Sorry to be vague, I tried not give away too much and spoil the surprise for those who have not rode it
would be starting soon!!!
