DanInMN
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Jan 23, 2012
- Messages
- 494
Hi! I am new to this board, but have been lurking occasionally for awhile. My wife and I are excited to be visiting Orlando from 1/30 - 2/3.
We have been to WDW several times before. We have brought our kids, some of their friends, and several foreign exchange students on various trips. We have stayed on-site at Movies, Music, Sports, Pop Century, Port Orleans, and Swan. We have also stayed off-site at various places, some horrible and others wonderful. Also, my son (now 31) did the Disney College Program a few years ago.
Although the kids are grown up (sort of) and gone, my wife and I still enjoy WDW. There is something we like about the cleanliness, beautiful grounds, themed decor - oh, and the attractions too. We made our first no-kids trip a year ago, and next week will be our second. We will be meeting up with my in-laws, which is good as my wife does not get to see them very often.
Although we have also stayed on Disney properties, we have had great experiences off-site at Reunion Resort (just south of WDW) and Bahama Bay Resort (a few miles southwest of WDW). Reunion was nice, but a little expensive for us. Bahama Bay is wonderful, and very inexpensive. The condos are HUGE with 2 or 3 bedrooms, a full kitchen, 2 bathrooms, living room, and deck for less than $100/night. The grounds are beautifully landscaped, with multiple pools and a restaurant. We liked it so much that this will be our fifth visit. Only down side is we need to rent a car, but it is not too expensive if bundled with the resort reservation.
I lost my corporate job and am ramping-up a small business, so this trip will be done on the cheap. My small business is flight training, which is slow in the winter, but very busy spring/summer/fall. Now is our opportunity to take a little vacation to WDW. Our airfare is covered by credit card points, and the resort/car is only about $500 for the 5 days! To cut costs we will only visit WDW on Tuesday 1/31 (Magic Kingdom) and Thursday 2/2 (Epcot). Downtown Disney will keep us busy Monday evening, and Boardwalk on Wednesday evening. Most of Wednesday will be spent in the pools and hot tubs at Bahama Bay. We will eat some meals at the condo, which will cost less.
We are excited to go, and looking forward to some warm weather!
We have been to WDW several times before. We have brought our kids, some of their friends, and several foreign exchange students on various trips. We have stayed on-site at Movies, Music, Sports, Pop Century, Port Orleans, and Swan. We have also stayed off-site at various places, some horrible and others wonderful. Also, my son (now 31) did the Disney College Program a few years ago.
Although the kids are grown up (sort of) and gone, my wife and I still enjoy WDW. There is something we like about the cleanliness, beautiful grounds, themed decor - oh, and the attractions too. We made our first no-kids trip a year ago, and next week will be our second. We will be meeting up with my in-laws, which is good as my wife does not get to see them very often.
Although we have also stayed on Disney properties, we have had great experiences off-site at Reunion Resort (just south of WDW) and Bahama Bay Resort (a few miles southwest of WDW). Reunion was nice, but a little expensive for us. Bahama Bay is wonderful, and very inexpensive. The condos are HUGE with 2 or 3 bedrooms, a full kitchen, 2 bathrooms, living room, and deck for less than $100/night. The grounds are beautifully landscaped, with multiple pools and a restaurant. We liked it so much that this will be our fifth visit. Only down side is we need to rent a car, but it is not too expensive if bundled with the resort reservation.
I lost my corporate job and am ramping-up a small business, so this trip will be done on the cheap. My small business is flight training, which is slow in the winter, but very busy spring/summer/fall. Now is our opportunity to take a little vacation to WDW. Our airfare is covered by credit card points, and the resort/car is only about $500 for the 5 days! To cut costs we will only visit WDW on Tuesday 1/31 (Magic Kingdom) and Thursday 2/2 (Epcot). Downtown Disney will keep us busy Monday evening, and Boardwalk on Wednesday evening. Most of Wednesday will be spent in the pools and hot tubs at Bahama Bay. We will eat some meals at the condo, which will cost less.
We are excited to go, and looking forward to some warm weather!
We did not have much planned out except for the day all 24 of us would get our picture in front of the castle in our orange shirts in the morning of the 19th. Luckily we had heard about the Presidents visit before we all showed up there that morning. We just switched it to Friday the 20th and it was all good.
My SIL best friend's brother is a Jungle Cruise Pilot, he was so much fun, he let the boys drive and they had a blast. He even ran around the parks with us when he wasn't working. It was fun to hear all the stuff he knew. Thank you Micheal! We went to the Hollywood Studios Rock the Night Fireworks Spectacular on the 19th, and it was amazing!
Great show! I hope they do it more often, one CM said before the show when I asked what it was like, that it was the first and maybe the only time. We used the Community hall at the Boardwalk alot this trip. It was right in front of us. I really like that location. We made the tie dye Mikey shirts there, only $15 for DVC. They came out awesome! Best part, all the mess stayed there! We let them set for two days and washed them in the washer in the room and got to wear them to the park before we left. They are very bright and we got lots of comments. We had a great time, the weather was beautiful, the crowds were low and it was good to be with so much of the family! Now my DH says we are going back this Nov. but staying off property, I've never done that before so I have lots of research to do!
) and MK on both days we were there were BUSY and packed!!! I swear the crowds followed us! e used the TGM's recommendations but for 3 of the 4 days they were useless. The President's visit threw a wrench in though. We didn't arrive until Friday, the day after, but as I was expecting, people delayed their Thursday MK visit to Friday. Yikes!
) because they do it intermittently during slower days but earlier in the week saw several people testing and got the scoop and everyone was LOVING it. Can't wait to go back to chek it out personally.
Some were pretty accurate and some were WAY off. Same w/ UCT's phone app.. I'll try to remember to do that next time, though I'll never be able to prove to the doubters that ride times were actually far longer on the "big ticket" rides.
