The most fantastic, magical things can happen ............... Day 03 Update/July 18

[englishrose47]

Wow what a vacation you have planned , a couple of my staff did the panama cruise 18months ago they went in early December for 10 days . Loved it !! These 2 cruise every year but NOT Disney !!Carol and I ordered the kitchen sink for the guys on one of our trips , back in the day of Guest assistance cards , when we could tour each section of the park without having to wait for FP+ times . We used to park hop regularly too . We get the new assistance cards but they are not much help !!

 

[GoofyFan1515]

Yes, we owe a great deal to Magdalene (Flossbolna) for pointing out the date of the eastbound Panama Canal cruise in the summer of 2016. It fit perfectly inside my school vacation schedule.

That Magdalene..........she can really come through every now and then!

In the morning of August 20 we will pack up again and drive to Anaheim where we will stay at the Best Western Plus Anaheim Inn

which is just across the street from Disneyland.

I think this is right down the street from where Pat and I stayed the one night we popped in to experience the 60th Anniversary celebration, prior to heading to her conference last October.

I have already bought 5 day tickets (again, before the price went up) and we will spend those full 5 days at Disneyland.

5 day tickets work great. You can take in pretty much everything without having to feel rushed.

right opposite the port. We will return our rental car and explore the city on foot or maybe we’ll just get ourselves a tram ticket.

Good luck with turning in that rental car. We had an early flight back home and the signs to find the rental car return weren't very clear. We drove around a while before we finally found where to go.

The only thing that makes me very worried is your crazy resort hopping! That would totally kill me, but if you are up for it, then at least you get to experience a lot of different places. I hope you love Kidani, have you ever stayed there? I am a huge fan of AKL, only ever stayed at Jambo though (hotel and DVC). But Kidani is pretty high on my list as well of places to try!

Yes, I don't think I could move around that much either. I like to get to the resort we have for that particular trip, unpack everything, and settle in to have fun! The only time I like to pack it all up again (so to speak since it is also a huge negative) is when it is time to go home again!

Kidani is a great resort! I highly recommend it!

 

[AinsleyLM]

Subbing in! I was in Disney the same time as yall! It was my first time at the Flower and Garden festival, and I loved it!

 

[Leshaface]

Wow i'm late! But will be back to catch up!

 

[englishrose47]

Subbing in! I was in Disney the same time as yall! It was my first time at the Flower and Garden festival, and I loved it!

And you are a newbie to the Dis , WELCOME, Karin has the most wonderful Trip reports going and just wait till Christmas when Tom does his 2 Decemeber calanders they are not to be missed

 

[AinsleyLM]

And you are a newbie to the Dis , WELCOME, Karin has the most wonderful Trip reports going and just wait till Christmas when Tom does his 2 Decemeber calanders they are not to be missed

Thanks for the welcome, but I have actually been a member for a few years, lol! I just don't post that often. I am normally just an observer, lol.

 

[YukiPhnx]

Wow, what a summer to look forward to!

You were my first DISmeet too and I had so much fun! I'm so sad we'll be JUST missing each other AGAIN!

Btw, did you ever receive the pins and postcards I mailed you from China?

So many resort stays! Are you planning on packing lighter to help with all the moves?

Bay Lake Tower is like a dream stay for me. I look forward to seeing your pictures!

I love Vegas! I've only been once as a teenager but I've always wanted to go back.

The Panama Canal is one of my top places to cruise to. Can't wait to read all about it!

 

[mickeystoontown]

Wow! I am loving all of your Summer vacation plans! You two will be staying in so many amazing resorts, going to Vegas, Disneyland AND on a two week cruise!

 

[jstkpswimming]

Long time lurker, but thought I'd chime in to say I'm following along! My husband and I did the Panama Canal Cruise for our honeymoon in 2013. It was fantastic!

Looking forward to the next update!

 

[jenseib]

caught up..

First off..Is tom wearing an Ohio State Buckeyes coat? Where did he get that? LOL. It's just odd and in Ohio I see them all the time, but surely didn't expect to see Tom wearing one.

You were very busy with your arrival but looks like loads of fun too.

You summer vacation sounds like a complete dream. I sure wish I could get away that long and do something like that.

 

[franandaj]

That's a great Summer Vacation! I love the one bedroom units at OKW. I think we will try to stay there on the next trip I need to book (meaning Feb 2017). It will only be two nights, but I will enjoy that giant tub. I hope you two get to use it in your five days there!

I want to try that Gordon Ramsay restaurant at Caesars. We saw it the last time we were in Vegas, but it was our last day and last couple hours in town. We had already eaten (a lot) by the time we stumbled upon it. The sad thing I heard about it is that they have renewed his license with Caesars (that's not sad), all he has to do to remain under contract is spend 24 consecutive hours there once a year. That's the sad part. I wonder how much presence he really has at the place.

The Best Western is a great location, you might even be closer to the Esplanade than if you stayed at the Disneyland Hotel. I've already penciled you in for the 22nd of August, if that works for you!

I'll warm up the Wonder for you in July!

 

[chunkymonkey]

That kitchen sink at Beaches n Cream...unbelievable! I wish I had more people in my party to eat it! but since it's usually myself and DH and sometimes my sister, that would be too much for us, but maybe we can do the little kitchen sink. I saw someone do that and the sink looked really cute.

Unbelievable summer vacation plans! Each summer your plans sound like a "once in a lifetime" trip for us! Do you find that it is tedious to do all that resort hopping? The though of it sounds like fun, but logistically I would probably not want to unpack and repack, but I guess I would have to be smart about how I pack then. Can't wait to hear about that trip too!

 

[Teri1]

Guess it is time to give you a little preview of what is in store for our summer vacation.


Last summer we could not follow the plans we had made because of personal reasons and had to cancel our summer plans which included back to back Disney Fantasy cruises.
So when we decided we would go to the US in 2016 we made sure a cruise was in our future. I booked back to back DREAM cruises, then we would have had an overnight stay at Port Canaveral followed by a cruise on the Disney Fantasy. But a short time later that was all to change again


And you know


The most fantastic, magical things did happen and it all started with an email from Flossbolna!


Yes, we owe a great deal to Magdalene (Flossbolna) for pointing out the date of the eastbound Panama Canal cruise in the summer of 2016. It fit perfectly inside my school vacation schedule.

We had always dreamed of doing a two week cruise and especially such a special one going through the Panama Canal. So I checked the price and it was just right, so we changed our summer plans again, we booked the Panama Canal crossing and then it started to emerge from here.

(stole this idea from Magdalene)

And here are our plans as far as they are “kind of” put together.


We’ll fly to Orlando on August 3, pick up a rental car and check in to Bay Lake Tower for three nights.

Reason being – we will be in walking distance to the MK which has EMH the day we arrive and we hope to be up to attend.

On August 6 we will move to the Yacht Club for two nights (will pay oop for that stay)

On August 8 we will then move to Animal Kingdom Villas Kidani where we will stay for 4 more nights

From August 12 to 17 we will then head to our real home away from home, OKW. And with shuffling the resorts around a bit we will be able to stay in a 1 bedroom villa.

We will move back to BLT on August 17 for 1 night. Reason being that again this is an EMH night and I know that if we still have some packing to do and have to go through the hassle of parking at the TTC or use a bus we will not go there. Now staying at BLT solved that problem.

We will have about half a day to play at the MK before we need to head to the airport on Aug 18 for our first flight with Southwest

to Las Vegas. We will arrive in the early evening, pick up a rental car and stay at Caesar’s Palace

for two nights in a room with a view of the Las Vegas Strip.

And we hope to eat at one of Gordon Ramsay’s eateries during our stay there as well.

In the morning of August 20 we will pack up again and drive to Anaheim where we will stay at the Best Western Plus Anaheim Inn

which is just across the street from Disneyland.

We failed to score the Grand Californian on points, but saving those points gave us enough to stay in a 1 bedroom villa at WDW, so all is good! I have already bought 5 day tickets (again, before the price went up) and we will spend those full 5 days at Disneyland.

On Aug 25 we will check out of the Best Western and head to San Diego where we will check into the Wyndham Bayside,

right opposite the port. We will return our rental car and explore the city on foot or maybe we’ll just get ourselves a tram ticket.

The next morning we’ll haul our luggage to the port, then check in and get aboard the Disney Wonder

for our 2 week long Panama Canal cruise. There are only 4 ports of call and we have excursions booked for all four of them, but not sure yet, if we will keep them.

We’ll arrive back at Port Canaveral on September 9, pick up another rental car from Hertz and head back to WDW, where we will stay at Pop Century

for the night. And finally in the evening hours of September 10 we will have to return to the airport for our flight home, which will get us home just in time for me to get back to work.

So, there you have it – summer vacation 2016.​

I can't believe we will miss you by 2 days. You are leaving on the 10th and we arrive on the 12th! Sounds like a wonderful vacation!

 

[Teri1]

It was busy, but the perfect way to kick off the vacation. And it was great to meet at B&C as Teresa and her family had not been there before.

We enjoyed it thank you so much! Too bad Otto slept through it and didn't get any ice cream. We will have 6 adults and one child on our next trip, so we need to find time to go to B&C.

 

[dizneeat]

Just a quick hello from us!

We are spending a long weekend (Saturday to Tuesday) in Italy and I will be back with a few pics later today!

 

[Flossbolna]

Have a great time in Italy!

 

[Leshaface]

We drove up to the hotel looking for check in parking and there was none. So we asked where we should park and were directed towards an area just off the entrance. Okay, paperwork in hand we headed inside and it did not take long until we were handed a key and given directions to the room. There was no map or anything, but we planned on parking the car in self parking and then went to explore where our room was located. So, off to self parking we went, punching in the code numbers and then we wondered where to park as the car park was so full, cars were even parked in the grass. We drove around for about 10 minutes looking for an empty space but there was nothing available. In the end we gave in and went for valet parking, it was the same price as self parking anyway, but it left us with 5 pieces of luggage and two shopping bags.
Well, we would have to ask bell services to help us. There was no one in sight when we drove up and unloaded the car, so we asked for bell services and were told that no one was available.

Oh my gosh that's annoying!

We freshened up a bit, had a drink and then headed out, over to Disney Springs for dinner. By now it was past 10pm and we had been up for 22 hours.

I cannot believe you guys headed to Disney Springs! You are seriously troopers. I would have passed out in the car after valeting it

We were standing there for half an hour and finally all the people who had been waiting with us had gotten in their cars and driven off and we were sure ours would be brought by soon. Well, it wasn’t. We waited and waited and waited some more until one of the valets asked if we still waited for our car. Yes, we are still waiting. So she looked for our key and one of the valets went running. Took about 5 minutes and then our ride arrived. We loaded our stuff inside and off we went.

Uh, did they just forget about you??

We must have been standing there for several minutes until one of them turned to us and asked if we were waiting for something.
Yes, we wanted to check in.
“You have to get in line over there!” – “But we have done online check in!” – “You have to get in line over there!” O-kay!
Not very happy, but we got in line, we were on vacation and these cast members were not to be disturbed. So we waited in line for another 10 minutes, then got to the front of the line and a cast member. We told her that we wanted to check in and had done online check in and she pointed to the two other cast members.
I was not going to get over there again and told her that they had sent us here and would she please check us in. No problem! I handed her my paper work and she found us in the system, told us that there was already a credit card on file and did we have any form of ID.
Yes, we did and we handed her our driver’s licenses.
She looked at them, turned them around and then said that she needed to see a passport.
Now, we have checked in with our driver’s licenses several times and our passports were in one of the big bags in the car.
Could she just check us in and we would come back later to pick up keys? NO! She needed a passport and she needed it now.
Okay, that meant that we had to walk all the way over to the parking lot and go find the passports and trek back again. Well, not happening. We walked over to the car, found the passports after a few minutes of unloading and loading again, got in the car and drove over to the front entrance, where we were told they were very busy and could we park in the self park lot. Thankfully I didn’t have anything to throw, so I just told the guy that we had done that and I was not going to go back to the parking lot.
So in the end we were allowed to park close to the front entrance.
Guess what, when we got back there were lines again.

What is going on this trip with the car issues and check-in?

And then we came to Canada and Tom deserved something he had been missing for over a year, a Moosehead!

Yum, Moosehead is very delicious!

That sounds yummy.

That is totally cool!

Look at all the attention you're getting!

and the announcement made while they walk it to the table.

No wonder, I had no idea that they made an announcement to the room.

Good job guys!

This is awesome!!!

Great group pic!

In the morning of August 20 we will pack up again and drive to Anaheim where we will stay at the Best Western Plus Anaheim Inn

We stayed there in October and really loved the location! I'm still hoping to get down there and meet up with you guys!

Also sooooo jealous of your trip! August 3 - September 10?! Incredible!

 

[englishrose47]

I am sure we will have some great pix of Italy shortly and of course the food porn!!

 

[dizneeat]

I am sure we will have some great pix of Italy shortly and of course the food porn!!

Here it comes, Rosie!!

 

[dizneeat]

I am going to do replies and an update to the trip report when we get back home, but here are a few (foody) impressions of our short relaxing trip to Italy.

We left around 6am on Saturday morning and the weather was dreadful, grey, rainy and pretty cold. It took us about 3 hours (and several tunnels crossing the Alps) to get to some nicer weather.

and then the GPS reported a big traffic jam because of an accident. We followed its advice, got off the motorway and made good progress.

Later we got back onto the motorway and soon we crossed the border into Italy.

And another hour and a half we reached our destination, went shopping and arrived at the hotel around 2pm.

And here's a word of warning!!! There are TONS of food pics, so you better fill your belly before going on. Since we always spend those short vacations in the same town and same aparthotel there are just a few pics of the town and things.

When we arrived, we got everything up to our room (got upgraded to a two bedroom instead of the one bedroom I had booked!!) and had a very late lunch.

We had found this chocolate spread and it was delicious! Not as sweet as Nutella and very creamy! Yum!

After lunch we unpacked what was necessary to unpack, then went for a walk around town, just to find out that there were LOADS of young people celebrating the holidays with a lot of alcohol. Very noisy indeed, but we did our best to get out of their way.

Dinner looked a lot like lunch.

We did a little evening walk, doing some window shopping, but since we had been up very early that day, we had to make it an early night too.

​