That's the real trouble with the world, too many people grow up; A Feb. '21 birthday TR with a little "extra" thrown in *LINK TO NEW TR! 10/9!*

[pkondz]

our Punta Cana trip because as of today we are two weeks out from that

Coming up soon!

It means more Geyser Point, a chance to see the refurbed rooms and also proximity to Susan @suse66 and her DS for a couple nights while they are at BRV

That's great! I'd like to meet you and her some day.

now I'm looking at these 2 pictures thinking UGH! These would be wonderful if there weren't any masks!!!

yeah... not gonna miss that.

Love this car!

And the BIG GUY- appropriate that I waited till now to post since it's what some like to call CHRISTMAS IN JULY

It was nothing at all, just an 18 year old flexing his independence after being cooped up with his family for a few days and forgetting who pays for him to flex that independence at colleg

Overall it really was a very good trip and a nice change from all our adult only stays ❤

And thanks for sharing it with us!

 

[Jenny Sanders]

OMG! The Christmas Cavalcade’s were so cute!!!
Those darn masks!!!!

 

[Steppesister]

It is ridiculous! Since I do airfare for lots of destinations daily I see the changes and it is unbelievable.

I imagine it'll simmer down once everyone blows their pent up wad and gets their travel itches scratched. The market should even out... IF they want to keep customers coming back, that is.

I do love Mary Poppins too; I miss the Mary topiary that used to be outside the resort that you could see from the monorail. I don't think it'll be overwhelming? I guess they are trying to bring more people in.

I think it might be on par with the Enchanted Rose. Understated and well-done without being 'in your face'.

It was nothing at all, just an 18 year old flexing his independence after being cooped up with his family for a few days and forgetting who pays for him to flex that independence at college and a mom who was tired of that so it ended quickly.

Been there and done that. Multiple times. As with you, that nonsense gets shut down pretty hard, pretty fast.

 

[suse66]

OK well our dates changed too lol which I'll post but since we're at WL we will both be there the 11-13th!

Yay! I think Geyser Point is calling our names!

Here he is with Ricky; Chris quickly removed himself from within view of the phone as he's just about strictly #nophotosplease.

Sounds just like my Stuart!

First the dates are altered and are now August 9-13th; still 4 nights. And after continuously checking my rates I get for resorts Steve saw a WL pop up so we are now in a Courtyard view room there and I couldn't be happier! It means more Geyser Point, a chance to see the refurbed rooms and also proximity to Susan @suse66 and her DS for a couple nights while they are at BRV. Susan and I did meet up a few years back during HS after hours:

I am so excited to hear about the renovated rooms! They look really sweet from what I have seen so far online. I am a little nervous about BRV given that it is WAY overdue for a refurb but as long as the room is clean, I will be ok. Love that pic of us from after hours! Looking forward to seeing you and Steve.

This was also when I lost it with Ricky which sucked overall but also because usually our last day ends up being one of our best. It was nothing at all, just an 18 year old flexing his independence after being cooped up with his family for a few days and forgetting who pays for him to flex that independence at college and a mom who was tired of that so it ended quickly. Just looking through the pictures again brought it to mind lol!

Oh I can so relate! They forget how lucky they are to get that financial support from their parents.

That's great! I'd like to meet you and her some day.

Either at Disney or next time I am in the 'Peg, we will have to meet up!

Been there and done that. Multiple times. As with you, that nonsense gets shut down pretty hard, pretty fast.

As a mother of five, I am sure you have! If they were paying for everything on their own, they would quickly learn how much we sacrifice for them to have amazing opportunities.

 

[kittylady1972]

Then yesterday Steve and I did a bunch of shopping for a combination of new furniture and stuff for our Punta Cana trip because as of today we are two weeks out from that I really cannot wait! In the meantime we did change our August Disney trip just a little bit.
First the dates are altered and are now August 9-13th; still 4 nights. And after continuously checking my rates I get for resorts Steve saw a WL pop up so we are now in a Courtyard view room there and I couldn't be happier! It means more Geyser Point, a chance to see the refurbed rooms and also proximity to Susan @suse66 and her DS for a couple nights while they are at BRV.
This was also when I lost it with Ricky which sucked overall but also because usually our last day ends up being one of our best. It was nothing at all, just an 18 year old flexing his independence after being cooped up with his family for a few days and forgetting who pays for him to flex that independence at college and a mom who was tired of that so it ended quickly. Just looking through the pictures again brought it to mind lol!

Obviously Steve and I have been back multiple times since our Thanksgiving trip but the kids have not and at this point I don't foresee a WDW trip for them again this year, so very happy we have these great COVID Disney memories. Overall it really was a very good trip and a nice change from all our adult only stays ❤
​

Sounds like a fabulous trip planned for you for August and for later this month I'm sure! My dad and his GF leave for Punta Cana tomorrow morning with his GFs family and like 50 of their friends for 5 nights. Should be interesting I guess for them.

OMG just reading your sentence about Ricky is making me cringe. I've practically forced all of my kids on this upcoming trip (well at least the 21yo and 17yo boys were forced) and I'm just hoping the boys can be civilized humans for most of the trip. The teenage attitude...ugh! I mean especially with the 21yo who still LIVES AT HOME so he doesn't have the excuse of living on his own and coming back to us. He's just moody always. Yet I feel like our time for family vacations is just running out so I'm forcing him on this one. His main concern is not being able to stick with his current diet and workout routine he's been doing for over a year now but I've let him know there are gyms where we are going so he could still do some of that. I don't know, I fear there will be hell to pay when we return as he'll let us all know how we've ruined his life to which point I'm ready to let him know he can find a new place to live as I'm no longer obligate to support him. That usually gets him an attitude adjustment at least temporarily.

 

[vamassey1]

I thought about her after I saw your FB post! I definitely will look for her and then tell her I know her mom from social media lol

She'll just love that! I've already warned her that she may get recognized. She also has two roommates from 2020 who are down there too and both are blogging so she is getting exposure too.

The holidays were on full display that day and we caught all the cavalcades:

We're going Thanksgiving week this and I really hope to catch lots of Holiday decorations.

Obviously Steve and I have been back multiple times since our Thanksgiving trip but the kids have not and at this point I don't foresee a WDW trip for them again this year, so very happy we have these great COVID Disney memories. Overall it really was a very good trip and a nice change from all our adult only stays ❤

I know how boy can be as they get older. I'm glad you had a great family vacation together. I haven't gotten my son to do Disney with us since 2015 and that was only for 2 nights because his sister was getting married there.

 

[buzzrelly]

So what, really, was the next logical step?
​

Disney's Gran Destino Tower
August 7-12
Me and Steve
2 dinner reservations at Citricos

Awesome! So exciting for you, I hope Rony is there!

Also, I saw you changed dates but we'll be at BCV 8/8-8/15. Do you have any park days? Otherwise I may have to try and sneak away from the fam for some GP with you and @suse66

The holidays were on full display that day and we caught all the cavalcades:

Aw, I love that, but I really love the MVMCP parade in all its glory and hope it's back by December!

It was nothing at all, just an 18 year old flexing his independence after being cooped up with his family for a few days and forgetting who pays for him to flex that independence at college and a mom who was tired of that so it ended quickly. Just looking through the pictures again brought it to mind lol!

Ughhhh…I hear that. I'm a little nervous about our August trip traveling with THREE teenagers Allie will be fine, but the boys can be…well, teenaged boys Nicholas will probably go off on his own which is ok, but Kaleb was over here last weekend and sleeping until 1 pm! I mentioned to Mike that he's going to have a VERY hard time getting up early in Disney to rope drop…I just do NOT see it happening and I can see myself getting annoyed if he sleeps the whole trip. But luckily, Mike and I will be back like 6 weeks later, so I'm going to try to make the best of it and if I'm annoyed, we'll just go do what we want and ignore it.

 

[CruellaNY]

Coming up soon!

Been a LONG time since we had a big trip that wasn't Disney and I'm feeling the pressure now of it coming up super quick! Good pressure though Taking Chris shopping tomorrow for some new trip clothes so that'll be fun lol

That's great! I'd like to meet you and her some day.

Fingers crossed!

Love this car!

I know so fun; hope they bring it out again this year

And thanks for sharing it with us!

And as always thanks for reading!

OMG! The Christmas Cavalcade’s were so cute!!!

I think in general I liked them better than the Halloween ones. Excited to see the 50th ones!

he market should even out... IF they want to keep customers coming back, that is.

Yes I agree; although I will say the high prices aren't scaring off too many folks! Travel is still going nuts which is of course great for me lol. I thin at this point the pent up demand overrides high pricing but as you said eventually it won't.

I think it might be on par with the Enchanted Rose. Understated and well-done without being 'in your face'.

I agree here too and just hope we are right

Been there and done that. Multiple times. As with you, that nonsense gets shut down pretty hard, pretty fast.

Yup! No room for it. Not when he's home and absolutely not on vaca.

Yay! I think Geyser Point is calling our names!

Whoo hoo yes!!!!!!

. I am a little nervous about BRV given that it is WAY overdue for a refurb but as long as the room is clean, I will be ok.

I think you know we were booked there last September and ended up changing to CCV because the room was dirty which could happen anywhere. Otherwise we would have been good to stay there! Yes they are dated and definitely need the refurb but we are also booked there for 1 night in Sept before moving to WL so obviously we weren't turned off enough to not return!

Looking forward to seeing you and Steve.

Cannot wait

Oh I can so relate! They forget how lucky they are to get that financial support from their parents.

Yes and while I know it gets annoying when we remind them......we gotta remind them lol

 

[CruellaNY]

My dad and his GF leave for Punta Cana tomorrow morning with his GFs family and like 50 of their friends for 5 nights. Should be interesting I guess for them

Nice! What resort are they at?

OMG just reading your sentence about Ricky is making me cringe. I've practically forced all of my kids on this upcoming trip (well at least the 21yo and 17yo boys were forced) and I'm just hoping the boys can be civilized humans for most of the trip. The teenage attitude...ugh! I mean especially with the 21yo who still LIVES AT HOME so he doesn't have the excuse of living on his own and coming back to us. He's just moody always. Yet I feel like our time for family vacations is just running out so I'm forcing him on this one. His main concern is not being able to stick with his current diet and workout routine he's been doing for over a year now but I've let him know there are gyms where we are going so he could still do some of that. I don't know, I fear there will be hell to pay when we return as he'll let us all know how we've ruined his life to which point I'm ready to let him know he can find a new place to live as I'm no longer obligate to support him. That usually gets him an attitude adjustment at least temporarily.

LOL Steve is worried about how they'll be in PC too but at least we have separate rooms I feel the same about family vacation time running out. Who knows if next summer Ricky will do an internship or decide to go away with friends or want to get an apartment and job by school or just not want to go with us

She'll just love that! I've already warned her that she may get recognized. She also has two roommates from 2020 who are down there too and both are blogging so she is getting exposure too.

Haha the perks of having a mom on DISboards and social media in general!

We're going Thanksgiving week this and I really hope to catch lots of Holiday decorations.

I'm jealous it's my favorite week to go!

Also, I saw you changed dates but we'll be at BCV 8/8-8/15. Do you have any park days? Otherwise I may have to try and sneak away from the fam for some GP with you and @suse66

Yes we do! I will text you but Epcot the 9th, HS 10th, MK 11th, HS 12th and MK 13th plus we'll hope to AK at least once. But GP works too!

Nicholas will probably go off on his own which is ok, but Kaleb was over here last weekend and sleeping until 1 pm! I mentioned to Mike that he's going to have a VERY hard time getting up early in Disney to rope drop…I just do NOT see it happening and I can see myself getting annoyed if he sleeps the whole trip

I feel for you and hope it goes ok! I honestly just resigned myself a couple years ago to letting them do what they want; stay back in the room and meet us when they want or whatever. It helps that they were already way familiar there and knew their way around. The getting up early is ALWAYS an issue!

 

[pkondz]

Taking Chris shopping tomorrow for some new trip clothes so that'll be fun lol

Fingers crossed!

 

[suse66]

I think you know we were booked there last September and ended up changing to CCV because the room was dirty which could happen anywhere. Otherwise we would have been good to stay there! Yes they are dated and definitely need the refurb but we are also booked there for 1 night in Sept before moving to WL so obviously we weren't turned off enough to not return!

I've watched a few videos lately and the rooms definitely look tired. As long as it's clean I am good. I heard horror stories of people staying at the cabins and having roaches in the dishwasher!

Cannot wait

Me too!

Yes we do! I will text you but Epcot the 9th, HS 10th, MK 11th, HS 12th and MK 13th plus we'll hope to AK at least once. But GP works too!

Jack and I are at MK on the 8th, HS on the 9th, EP on the 10th, AK on the 11th, HS on the 12th and MK on the 13th. So definitely some overlap! I am trying to convince him to do a 4 parks/one day adventure on the 14th! I am thinking we will try to do a few evenings at Epcot for F&W too.

I feel for you and hope it goes ok! I honestly just resigned myself a couple years ago to letting them do what they want; stay back in the room and meet us when they want or whatever. It helps that they were already way familiar there and knew their way around. The getting up early is ALWAYS an issue!

I am worried about this too. Jack is pretty good about getting up early as he would rather do that than deal with big crowds and long lines. He knows the parks pretty well but hasn't been back in five years. What is with my boys???

 

[luvpoohandcompany]

Can I just reassure you all that are worried about family vacation time running out that it has been my experience that if mum & dad are paying the kids will come regardless of age and marital status! Especially if it’s WDW!!
Unfortunately they may still be absolute treasures that only a parent could love and even then there are those moments when you wonder why? WTH was I thinking? Where is the nearest pub/cocktail bar/drink/any drink so long as it has alcohol for medicinal (possibly crime prevention) purposes only you understand

 

[luvpoohandcompany]

Glad you got a festive family vacation with your boys and that all returned home in one piece so that you can go visit Punta Cana
I really do want to visit Disney at Christmas sometime with the whole family but after doing a trip to Portugal in 2019 I know I will be laying down some ground rules before we go including the fact that I need some me time or at least me and hubby time
Love the cavalcade. Very cute

 

[Wood Nymph]

Will this be your first time back at WL since they remodeled the rooms? We are staying there in January and I'm looking forward to the new rooms, although I will miss the cute animals on the headboards in the old rooms. I wonder if they are going to offer the club level upgrade again.

Punta Cana sounds like it will be fun.

 

[kastoney]

I was catching up and was so confused when you said you weren't going back until September. Silly me should have figured out Citricos demanded a trip of its own

So jelly you are getting to stay at WL. We got over there once during our trip at lunch time but Casey deemed it too hot to eat at Geyser. We ended up at Whispering Canyon but so not the same.

 

[CruellaNY]

I've watched a few videos lately and the rooms definitely look tired. As long as it's clean I am good. I heard horror stories of people staying at the cabins and having roaches in the dishwasher!

EW I have not seen that! Well we did not see any roaches in our BRV room for the few minutes we were in it so you should be good!!

ack and I are at MK on the 8th, HS on the 9th, EP on the 10th, AK on the 11th, HS on the 12th and MK on the 13th. So definitely some overlap! I am trying to convince him to do a 4 parks/one day adventure on the 14th! I am thinking we will try to do a few evenings at Epcot for F&W too.

Awesome that gives us two days to meet up in parks but hopefully we get a Geyser Point night in there too! I feel like we'll be hanging there with Jenny @Jenny Sanders on the 9th when we finish at Epcot and probably at least 2 other nights lol

Unfortunately they may still be absolute treasures that only a parent could love and even then there are those moments when you wonder why? WTH was I thinking? Where is the nearest pub/cocktail bar/drink/any drink so long as it has alcohol for medicinal (possibly crime prevention) purposes only you understand

This is what Steve is worried about with Punta Cana and why we got two rooms lol!!

Will this be your first time back at WL since they remodeled the rooms? We are staying there in January and I'm looking forward to the new rooms, although I will miss the cute animals on the headboards in the old rooms. I wonder if they are going to offer the club level upgrade again.

Yes! We've been at CCV twice post-COVID so I'm looking forward to seeing the new rooms but like you I know I'll miss those cute touches. Of all the resorts I didn't think WL needed an update THAT bad but I guess I'm biased

Punta Cana sounds like it will be fun.

Just a few days now!

I was catching up and was so confused when you said you weren't going back until September. Silly me should have figured out Citricos demanded a trip of its own

Ha! We almost went back in early July for the fireworks; then said "nah". But as soon as they announced Citricos opening?

So jelly you are getting to stay at WL. We got over there once during our trip at lunch time but Casey deemed it too hot to eat at Geyser. We ended up at Whispering Canyon but so not the same.

Oh man. I did see that you ate at WCC and I don't dislike it but yeah no replacement for GP. Although given the heat and humidity we had last month there Chris would absolutely have deemed it too hot to eat outside; or be in Florida in general.

 

[luvpoohandcompany]

This is what Steve is worried about with Punta Cana and why we got two rooms lol!!

WISE MAN

 

[kittylady1972]

Nice! What resort are they at?

LOL Steve is worried about how they'll be in PC too but at least we have separate rooms I feel the same about family vacation time running out. Who knows if next summer Ricky will do an internship or decide to go away with friends or want to get an apartment and job by school or just not want to go with us

So my dad and his GF and his GF's daughter and family and tons of friends spent 5 days at Hard Rock in Punta Cana. Judging from the photos and videos (of drunk 18 year olds) they had a good time.

Thankfully our recent trip wasn't as bad as I feared. YES the boys (and even my FIL) spent a lot of time in the condo at least on the second half of our trip to Madeira Beach. The 21yo did come out to dinner once or twice but never saw the beach except from our balcony maybe. Overall we all did the Universal and Disney parks together and I dare say that the one day we did the Disney parks and that evening the kids broke off to hit a park on their own I think my boys actually were ENJOYING themselves? Just having that ONE moment made it worth it especially since the 21 year old NEVER seems happy and always seems irritated.

So glad you have another trip to look forward to already. Debating a quick trip in August myself as well as a return in September for HHN but still working out a lot of details.

 

[Steppesister]

Yes I agree; although I will say the high prices aren't scaring off too many folks! Travel is still going nuts which is of course great for me lol. I thin at this point the pent up demand overrides high pricing but as you said eventually it won't.

Time is certainly going to tell. I have loads of other places I want to travel to and beyond October, we'll see what happens.

I agree here too and just hope we are right

I think the recent opening photos bears it out.

 

[CruellaNY]

So my dad and his GF and his GF's daughter and family and tons of friends spent 5 days at Hard Rock in Punta Cana. Judging from the photos and videos (of drunk 18 year olds) they had a good time.

Great! I have sent lots of clients there and they love it; we drove by it on our way to our resort too.

Thankfully our recent trip wasn't as bad as I feared. YES the boys (and even my FIL) spent a lot of time in the condo at least on the second half of our trip to Madeira Beach.

It's funny how and when they decide to join society lol. Chris spent quite a bit LESS time in the room in PC than he does in Disney and more time with us relaxing in the pool and it was a pleasant surprise. Glad you had a good trip!

. I have loads of other places I want to travel to and beyond October, we'll see what happens.

Well Disney is still my #1 but we do have a few other destinations planned for 2022!