The Smiths are Heading Back...For 10 Days of Disney Magic! (Updated 8/16)

[Tnkrbelle565]

for the upgrade and the money saved

Thank you! Overall we saved a little over $1400 over rack rate. Gotta love that!

 

[SOUTHERNtinkerBELLE]

That is an amazing upgrade! I can't believe a studio is that much cheaper. Yay for some early pixie dust!

 

[Tnkrbelle565]

That is an amazing upgrade! I can't believe a studio is that much cheaper. Yay for some early pixie dust!

I had read that somewhere before that because of the way they are doing the percentage off codes, the Villas are working out cheaper than the reg hotels in some situations

 

[Jennifer48]

WOOHOO!!!!!!!!!!!! Thats so awesome! And you called me a snob , TAKE IT BACK! Congratulations! Now I'm going to book a Disney trip since you won't be needing to borrow my points

 

[jenb1023]

Congrats on the BCV's! That is awesome - more space and cheaper too! Now Ash will really be surprised on the resort choice and the studio!

 

[Tnkrbelle565]

WOOHOO!!!!!!!!!!!! Thats so awesome! And you called me a snob , TAKE IT BACK! Congratulations! Now I'm going to book a Disney trip since you won't be needing to borrow my points

When are you thinking of booking that trip

Congrats on the BCV's! That is awesome - more space and cheaper too! Now Ash will really be surprised on the resort choice and the studio!

Thanks! I hope Ash is happy with the choice. My luck she'll complain that it's not POP!

 

[Tnkrbelle565]

Who's ready for a little Mini-TR about our trip to Ireland????

As most of you know, my Mom surprised us with an early Christmas present to Ireland after seeing a deal on Travelzoo for 5 days airfare, hotel, and breakfast for $499/person.

So we went for Columbus Day weekend. Meanwhile, my mom took Aisling to the Topsfield Fair and do some other fall activies (I'll share pics of them too) so Randy and I could have a nice adult only vaca!

On Thursday, October 7th- we were off! The airport was insanely packed so it took awhile to get through security. Shockingly we didn't get picked for extra security (we always do!)

We grabbed some seats and hung out in the terminal. First surprise, there is a Earl of Sandwich in the International Terminal in Boston now! But since Aer Lingus is one of the rare airlines that actually serves you dinner still, we skipped it and grabbed Starbucks instead.

Due to my back issues, I have to wear a pain patch on the plane. Oh what fun that was trying to get on in the women's room with no help. A kind stranger stopped and saw me struggling and gave me an extra hand. People can be so friendly when they are going on vaca!

We had a fairly short wait until we started boarding and the flight went by really quickly. Unfortunatley, with the new entertainment system (16 movies plus tv show to pick from on individual tvs ), we didn't get much sleep. I was a very bad DISer and forgot to take pics of our meal. For airplane food, it was really good. AND they served us dinner and breakfast which was a nice bonus. Plus in the great Irish tradition- as much tea as you could drink throughout the flight!

We landed at 5am local time so there was NO line at customs. Quick stamp and we were on our way. The shuttle to our hotel was sitting out front when we got our bags so by 6am we were settled into our hotel. Unfortunately, there was a soccer tournament going on and a lot of the teams were staying at our hotel so there was NO availability for an early checkin when we arrived. So we sat

Well Randy sat. I had some pics to take!!!!

And these may be shocking for someone who has never been to Dublin...yup, they have palm trees!

I came back from taking pics and Randy was OUT....good job guarding the bags hun!

I was still excited to be "home" so I ordered tea service and read for awhile

At this point it was only about 7am. And checkin wasn't technically til 3pm. Any guesses when we finally got to a room????

 

[pinkxray]

I just found your trip report and am joining in. Your plans sound great so far. We are trying BCV for a few days this trip and I can't wait. We had about 20" of snow the other day and all I thought about while shoveling was relaxing at SAB.

I am looking foward to hearing about your trip to Ireland. I went once for a high school trip and would love to return. Since I have a hard enough time getting DH to Disney I don't think any trips out of the country will be happening.

Ashling is going to love BCV, how could you not?

 

[Jennifer48]

When are you thinking of booking that trip

Umm, its booked! We are going the week of February vacation and we are driving!

My guess is that you got your room at 1pm.

 

[jenjolt]

Loved the pictures of Ashling!!!

YAY for getting BCV...that is too awesome!!!!

OOOH Ireland PTR...can't wait for more!

 

[Tnkrbelle565]

I just found your trip report and am joining in. Your plans sound great so far. We are trying BCV for a few days this trip and I can't wait. We had about 20" of snow the other day and all I thought about while shoveling was relaxing at SAB.

I am looking foward to hearing about your trip to Ireland. I went once for a high school trip and would love to return. Since I have a hard enough time getting DH to Disney I don't think any trips out of the country will be happening.

Ashling is going to love BCV, how could you not?

I didn't do a ton of shoveling (my DH can be a saint sometimes ) but I was still dream of SAB

This was our first trip out of the country (minus a few hours on the Canadian side of Niagra) since I got pregnant with Aisling so I was so excited to give my passport some exercise

Umm, its booked! We are going the week of February vacation and we are driving!

My guess is that you got your room at 1pm.

Did I know this? You are driving? If you see Aisling in the parks...yes, it's her...say hi!

Loved the pictures of Ashling!!!

YAY for getting BCV...that is too awesome!!!!

OOOH Ireland PTR...can't wait for more!

Thank you!!!

 

[Tnkrbelle565]

Well I only got one vote but it was wrong....the hotel was awesome about getting us to our room as soon as possible. And by 9am we were in there.

Room was fairly nice (yet minimalist in decorating- notice the one piece of art!) for Europe. If you've never traveled overseas, the rooms are typically charming but small with older furnishings. I know a lot of travelers complain about hotel rooms in other countries because they don't bother researching the "norm" for the country they are going to. I've stayed in a lot of places in Europe and I can assure you that this was pretty decent.

Now we had an important decision to make...run out and explore or take a little nap. On the bus ride from the airport, I had noticed LOTS of changes since our last trip. I was anxious to see everything up close. However, after being up for a LOT of hours, I was really sleepy.

Guess what won????

Yup, the nap We set our alarms for an hour and were out. I swear that thing rang 2 seconds after I fell asleep. I could have stayed in bed all day I think. But our time was limited and we had some exploring to do! So we got up, took showers to wake ourselves up, and headed out.

Since we were still kinda sleepy, we decided to take a cab into town (part of the super cheap deal was that our hotel was about 2 miles from the city center). Well, we learned quickly that we would be getting exercise on this trip. 2 miles in a cab....$20 plus tip in a place were fuel works out to be about $5.50/gallon.

First order of business was to get to the tour office and book a tour for the next day. On Randy's only trip to Ireland, we mostly stayed in the city. This time I was determined to show him some of the country. Our first idea was to go down to Cork/Blarney so he could kiss the stone. But I have been there many times so Randy wanted to do something I hadn't done yet. We came out with a plan B and found a 15 hour bus trip that would take us there! We booked our trip with no problem and headed out to explore. At some point we called home to check in since my mom and Aisling should have been waking up. Aisling, who had been panicking before we left about us being so far away barely said hello

Most important to me was to go visit my old stomping grounds. So off to Temple Bar we went (not a real bar...wasn't drinking that early ...bar meaning "gate")

First stop was O'Connell Bridge and to see the River Liffey

O'Connell St. Notice the big silver thing in the middle of street. It's called the An Túr Solais-the tallest sculpture in the world. It was supposed to be called the Millennium Spire. But in true Irish fashion, it wasn't finished until 2003 Now, the Irish give crude nicknames to all of their statues and sculptures. We learned a lot of them during our stay. Most of them are not appropriate for the DIS. Probably the most tame is the Stiletto in the Ghetto.

Wooo Hooo- guess they found new ways to rip off the tourists since last time I was there

My old apartment: Top Floor

Spent many a fun night here when I lived in Dublin...now I could barely afford to walk in the place ($10 for a Guinness, $17 for a mixed drink). This is the place that famously let my roommates and I run a tab and didn't make us pay it That story will come back into play in a later update.

Randy sitting on the fake palm tree. For the record, it was NOT warm enough for shorts.

Anyone ever seen the movie Elf when Santa tells Buddy how to find the real Ray's Pizza in NYC? I'm guessing this isn't the real one either. (Randy and I were clearly very overtired by this point because I could barely take a pic we were laughing so hard)

By this point, we were getting hungry. We tried going to my favorite sandwich shop but it was gone So we find another cafe. For 2 sandwiches, one order of fries, and 2 drinks...$30. Yup, Disney was looking downright cheap After lunch we decided that we were fading fast again. We were meeting friends for dinner so we decided to start walking back for nap #2!

 

[Tnkrbelle565]

Trinity College

Molly Malone...Molly has lots of nicknames too: The Tart with the Cart, The Trollop with the Scallop, The Dish with the Fish, The Flirt in the Skirt amongst others. I was shocked to see nobody sitting on Molly. I have never gotten a pic of her alone. During the day, people are usually sitting with her. In the evening, drunks are usually posing with her in a whole different way

More ways to rip off tourists (pay to take a pic with a 7 foot leprechaun!)

Now these were cool. Free Pedicabs!!! They were everywhere. I thought they were a great green idea

Saint Stephen's Green. Before I lived in Dublin, I had lots of plans of making picnics and spending the weekends just lazing around in the Green. I never did But it is a perfect place for that. Now that I'm older and wiser, I would love to have just grabbed a book and sat there for hours people watching.

The Canal that meant we were almost back to the hotel! Our hotel was only about another 1/4 from this canal. Everytime we passed it, I would rejoice that we were "almost home"

Up Next: Dinner with Friends and the Evil ATM strikes.

 

[jessica52877]

Glad to see the mini TR. I have never been to Ireland, or anywhere over there, so it is nice to see something different. How old were you when you lived there?

 

[tinytreasures]

Wow your trip sounds amazing so far. I didn't know you use to live there

 

[Tnkrbelle565]

Glad to see the mini TR. I have never been to Ireland, or anywhere over there, so it is nice to see something different. How old were you when you lived there?

I was 20-21 when I was there to live and then 3-4 times since then. I haven't been back to visit since Jan 2003 (Ash was born in Oct 2003 so you can do the math why we haven't been back sine)

Wow your trip sounds amazing so far. I didn't know you use to live there

Yup, I interned at a residential treatment facility for 12-18 year old boys for a year.

Here is a pic from back in the day (yes those are 12 year olds smoking...I'm happy to report that Ireland has really stepped up the anti-smoking thing since I lived there)

 

[twob4him]

Wow Kristine this is so fascinating! I LOVE your trip and seeing all of the pics, stories and places!!! Awesome!

 

[jenb1023]

Great mini-TR! I knew you lived there but didn't know when or for how long. Love the photos - I am always so impressed by the buildings, etc. in Europe - so grand and so old. I had friends that went to Ireland around the same time as you and they couldn't believe how expensive everything was with the exchange rate. Looking forward to more!

 

[Tnkrbelle565]

Wow Kristine this is so fascinating! I LOVE your trip and seeing all of the pics, stories and places!!! Awesome!

Thanks Cathy

Great mini-TR! I knew you lived there but didn't know when or for how long. Love the photos - I am always so impressed by the buildings, etc. in Europe - so grand and so old. I had friends that went to Ireland around the same time as you and they couldn't believe how expensive everything was with the exchange rate. Looking forward to more!

Wasn't there too long- just my Jr. Year of College. Just long enough to gain at LOT of responsibility and independence (I was really dependent on my parents before I went). And it was a really fun way to raise my GPA. While I worked, I was graded by my job, on a daily journal that we had to keep, and for a thesis we had to write about something we learned on our job sites. I ended up with a 4.0 for the year

The prices weren't just because of the exchange rate. Ireland is in really bad shape financially so everything costs at least double what it did on our last trip. It was a bit of a shock.

 

[Dugette]

Hi, Kristine! Just realized you have this PTR going.

Yay for a BCV studio! We did the same thing last November...got the studio for cheaper than a regular BC room, due to the higher discount rate. One thing to be aware of, though, is that the regular BC rooms have been refurbished and the BCV rooms have not (as far as I know). While there was nothing wrong with the room, and the kitchenette was nice, it wasn't the same style of room as what we saw peeking through the regular BC patio windows. SAB is great, though...love the sand-bottom parts of the pool. Short stroll to Epcot and you've got Beaches & Cream right there too. I'm sure Aisling will love it!

I love the Ireland TR! Never been there, so really cool to see!

Looking forward to hearing more about both trips!

PS - I know what you mean about that dreaded 34th b-day coming up...