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

[twob4him]

OH Gosh, Kristine, you are such a trooper! Good idea to get momma bear on the case! I know I had my mamma bear claws drawn this past week! LOL! Those pictures are just gorgeous! I might have actually visited here but I can't remember....are the cliffs sometimes white? or am I thinking of another place? Love the green rolling hills and the castles and everything!

 

[oOJulieOo]

Gorgeous pictures. Makes me want to go to Ireland. Like right now.

 

[Tnkrbelle565]

I just found your PTR, we are staying at Beach Club almost the same dates. We'll be there August 19th-26th.

I really hope you were able to recoup your money. I can't imagine that happening. Looking forward to the rest of the story and hopefully a happy ending.

Thanks for reading. Yay for vacationing the same days. Are you guys getting excited for your ADRs and such? Have you stayed at BC before? Randy and Ash have never even been to the Boardwalk before so this is going to be something totally new.

I hope your mom was able to get your money back!

Wow, those cliffs are beautiful! The whole place is so picturesque!

Thank you. I wish the day had been a little more sunny for the pics but any day that isn't raining in Ireland is a good day.

Would you believe that in my 15+ trips to Ireland, I've never seen the cliffs of Moher?! I LOVED your pictures-- so beautiful!! I love seeing those gorgeous green hills spotted with white sheep!

I had never been there before either. That's why we decided to go here instead of Cork/Blarney. Problem is that there really isn't any good way to get there by public transportation. When I lived there we obviously didn't have a car and I wasn't old enough to rent one so we could only travel to places that were easy to get to by bus/train.

those pictures are amazing
I always wondered where your facebook picture was taken
Your poor mom you shouldn't scare her like that

Ella says she loves that castle and she wants to know if you died when you fell down

Yup, that's my FB pic! I was so amazed that Randy was able to use my camera that I have to leave it up!

Please assure Ella that we are alive and well.

OH Gosh, Kristine, you are such a trooper! Good idea to get momma bear on the case! I know I had my mamma bear claws drawn this past week! LOL! Those pictures are just gorgeous! I might have actually visited here but I can't remember....are the cliffs sometimes white? or am I thinking of another place? Love the green rolling hills and the castles and everything!

These cliffs are not white. I believe that England has white cliffs though that look very similar. Have you been to England?

Gorgeous pictures. Makes me want to go to Ireland. Like right now.

Have you ever been? It's a great country. So friendly and laid back. Just don't use the ATMs

 

[Jaaaacki]

Thanks for reading. Yay for vacationing the same days. Are you guys getting excited for your ADRs and such? Have you stayed at BC before? Randy and Ash have never even been to the Boardwalk before so this is going to be something totally new.

Yes very excited!! I've got my spreadsheet ready and waiting for the day. Beach Club is a first for our whole family, actually staying on-site is a first too.

 

[Tnkrbelle565]

Yes very excited!! I've got my spreadsheet ready and waiting for the day. Beach Club is a first for our whole family, actually staying on-site is a first too.

Wow...BC for your first on-site stay??? Oh you are going to be HOOOOOOOKED. After one stay at AKL, my DH won't even stay value anymore- never mind offsite

 

[Tnkrbelle565]

August Park Hours came out today!!! And as we will be housebound tomorrow in this stupid storm, Aisling and I will be working on our schedule!

If anyone needs the hours- here ya go! Aisling is only concerned about evening EMHs at MK. Her favorite part of WDW...staying at MK til 3am!

http://www.disneytravelagents.com/S.../pdf/ParkHours/WDW_Operating_Calendar_Aug.pdf

 

[Tnkrbelle565]

Shall we continue on with our tour of Western Ireland disguised as a PTR for WDW????


So next up we went on to Doolin. Doolin is another insanely small village. See?

Doolin was the lunch stop. If I had a complaint about the tour...this would have been it. There is only one restaurant that we could find and it's super small. With really low ceilings. And 2 tours dropped off there at the same time. So all the people were in line for a pub that had 1 cook who was also the server. Randy and I decided to skip the food for hydration

Up next was the village of Lisdoonvarna. Did anyone see the movie Matchmaker? The village in the movie was named Baile na Grá but that is not a real place (movie was filmed in Galway though so really close by where we were). However, you will (maybe) be surprised to learn that the Matchmaking festival is real. It takes place in Lisdoonvarna. All the signs were up. It was really funny. Unfortunately it wasn't a photo stop and I was on the wrong side of the bus so no pics.

Next photo stop was at the Burren. The Burren is actually pretty neat. It's the only place in the world that Arctic, Mediterranean and Alpine plants all grow in one place (sick of the random trivia yet?). The Burren is a limestone landscape that goes on for ages. It's got tons of caves but we weren't exploring those. Nope, us morbid Smiths go to the Poll na mBrón (The Portal Tomb) that is in the Burren This tomb dates back to 1700 BC so for us US people were nothing is more than a few HUNDRED years old...it's pretty cool. It was then used by the Celts for ceremonies in the Burren. Now why anyone would go out in the middle of rocks for a celebration/ceremony is beyond me. It was kinda hard to walk around

The last stop on our tour was Corcomroe Abbey. The Abbey is from the 13th Century and is in relatively great shape. Monastaries of this time were not typically that ornate so that's why tourists stop here.

The fun part was that there was a random Golden Retriever running around the Abbey. Who did he belong to? Where did he come from? He looked well taken care of so he certainly wasn't a stray. It was quite a mystery!

The rest of the tour was just a long drive back to Dublin. As you may recall- we left at 8am. We got back around 10pm. And we were sleepy. When we got back to Dublin, all the emails started pouring into the Blackberry. My mom had made a ton of phone calls for us. She found out that IF they could determine that we didn't get any money out of the ATM, we would get our money back. That didn't sound good. But again, I was determined NOT to let this ruin our day. I mean we had just toured ALL day and only spent money for Randy's beer and my diet coke in Doolin.

Due to our limited funds, we decided to hike back to the hotel. Dublin is pretty at night and it was a Sat so we figured that it would be pretty busy. It wasn't. It was eerily quiet on the streets. But it was a nice walk anyway. We walked up Grafton St (which is the busiest shopping street in Dublin) and I ran into some old familiar friends at Brown Thomas!

Since we had survived on snacks all day, Randy was STARVING. You can take the boy out of the US.....

Seriously, the busiest street in Dublin. Sat night. Look how quiet

You can't cut through Stephen's Green at night (huge heroin problem in Dublin) so we had to walk around it. The gates looked cool

And the statues looked spooky

But the Georgian architecture just looked gorgeous

We got back to the hotel and FELL into bed after a quick call to say goodnight to Aisling. Aside from making phone calls for us, my mom had taken her to the local Fair and to see the Mitchel Musso/Emily Osment concert. God love that woman

Next up: Touring more old haunts and NOT getting robbed

 

[Tnkrbelle565]

Guess my readers all live in the South and aren't snowbound with nothing better to do than read the DIS LOL!

 

[tinytreasures]

loving your report
Your pictures are amazing

 

[sohappy]

Hey! I do live in the south. I was just waiting for the update on all the planned ADRs. I NEED my direction

Oh and package from our last trip- yes, 2 months ago is finally in the mail.

 

[SOUTHERNtinkerBELLE]

I don't know how you made it so long without a meal! I was so concerned if you guys were going to eat as I was reading the story! Love the Disney characters in the window!

 

[klacey1]

Sounds like the rest of your day went well! So odd to see the streets that empty, though.

 

[Tnkrbelle565]

loving your report
Your pictures are amazing

Thank you!

Hey! I do live in the south. I was just waiting for the update on all the planned ADRs. I NEED my direction

Oh and package from our last trip- yes, 2 months ago is finally in the mail.

OK, Ok, getting up the 1st draft of the schedule. And as you know, the package arrived safe and sound and is all organized

I don't know how you made it so long without a meal! I was so concerned if you guys were going to eat as I was reading the story! Love the Disney characters in the window!

well luckily for me I had brought a large bag of Bear Naked granola with us. By the end of the day, we had eaten the entire bag (12 servings in a bag ). I ended up going all day without eating a real meal.

Sounds like the rest of your day went well! So odd to see the streets that empty, though.

It did go really well. All in all, it was a fabulous trip and I would definitely recommend that tour company. The guide was great!

 

[jessica52877]

Happily caught up now. What is the difference in the t1i and the t2i? Megapixels or something? I wish I could use mine like you can use yours. Any tips on learning?

 

[Tnkrbelle565]

THE TENTATIVE SCHEDULE! This is obviously dependent on us getting the ADRs (we have until 2/20 to make our ressies).

Day 1:
We plan to fly in to MCO in the afternoon, take ME over to BCV, check-in, and then have dinner at Cape May. MK has EMHs until 2am this night so depending on how tired we are...we might head over. Ash really wants to go but that situation will need to be assessed that night

Day 2:
MK Day. This day with be a full day at MK with a break in the afternoon for swimming/rest. We actually plan to break every day. If you haven't read my TRs, my child prefers evening EMHs over rope drops any day so we go with her schedule. We also typically take a break every afternoon to cool off physically and mentally We are planning to eat dinner at Chef Mickey's this night and return to MK for MSE Parade and WISHES.

Day 3:
DHS Day. Another full day with an afternoon break. We are hoping to do dinner at Sci Fi and see Fantasmic this night. We have missed Fantasmic on every family trip so we promised Aisling we will make it a priority.

Day 4
We plan to start off Day 4 at Epcot, doing lunch at Le Cellier, and heading back to the hotel for the rest of the day to relax. Aisling is dying to try the Kitchen Sink so this might be a good day for that adventure.

Day 5
Day 5 will start off at AK. We are going to do the Tusker House breakfast and hang out in the park for awhile and will probably do CS lunch there as well. Then we will return to the hotel early afternoon to get prettied up for our family pics that evening. Pics are from 5-7 on the Boardwalk. There is a salon on the Boardwalk that I'm thinking about checking out to have something done with my hair for the pics. Somehow thinking the Disney braids won't cut it! Fantasmic is showing again tonight so if we miss it on Sunday, we'll try again.

Day 6:
Finally...a day off! Or as much of a day off as Randy and Ash can handle. We plan to do Cape May for breakfast, hang out swimming and seeing what else the BC has to offer and then head to DTD in the evening for dinner at TRex. I have more than enough MyPoints to pay for this (already have the gift cards) so this one will be OOP.

Day 7:
Princess Day!!! Aisling wanted a full Princess themed day. We will be heading back to Epcot for breakfast at Akershus, play in Epcot for the day, break in the afternoon, and then 1900 PF for dinner.

Day 8:
Another Day off!!! After all that Princess-ness I'm thinking we could use another off day for at least the first half. We plan to do dinner at Boma this night. Afterward we are keeping open. We may just hang out checking out animals at AKL OR MK is having EMHs til 1am...which you know if really tempting to Ash. Another one we'll have to wait and see to make the decision.

Day 9:
Another Full MK day. We would also like to do O'Hana for dinner that night. Figured it was a good last ADR of the trip since it's Randy and Ash's favorite.

Day 10:
Now it's time to say goodbye We usually take the last flight of the day out of MCO when we go home but I'm debating that this time. Randy works 3rd shift and has minimal vaca days and if we take an afternoon flight, he COULD go to work that night meaning that for a 10 day vaca, he only needs to take 5 nights off. So I'm keeping this day open til we make the flights plans but I'm guessing that if anything, we'll pop over to Epcot since we can walk there.


Well there you have it....draft 1 of the plans. Any thoughts????

 

[Tnkrbelle565]

Happily caught up now. What is the difference in the t1i and the t2i? Megapixels or something? I wish I could use mine like you can use yours. Any tips on learning?

There is a difference in the mega pixels and in the ISO speed. There is also a bigger difference in the quality of the video feature. *Supposedly* (this is coming from the people at the photography store and stuff I've read online), the video feature on the t2i is the highest quality available on the market right now out of any camera. But I take this with a grain of salt since they are trying to sell me something with a $200 price difference

You do great with your camera. Seriously, it's all just trial and error for me. You don't get to see all the ones I delete Are you also still using the kit lens? I never use mine anymore. An upgraded lens is expensive but it really helps the quality of the pics- esp in low light.

 

[Lady Lallie]

I think you have a great outline for plans. I love the breaks during the day and I love no-park days or minimal park days. In that heat you need the break to keep going.

I have to say, I like the idea of flying out earlier. I find that the last day just waiting around for a flight drives me crazy. Just my two cents.

 

[Tnkrbelle565]

I think you have a great outline for plans. I love the breaks during the day and I love no-park days or minimal park days. In that heat you need the break to keep going.

I have to say, I like the idea of flying out earlier. I find that the last day just waiting around for a flight drives me crazy. Just my two cents.

Well for me, i'm always paranoid that if we don't leave a park early enough or if there is a problem with the transportation, we aren't going to get back to the resort in time for ME. Which means that we leave SUPER early and then sit around the resort bored for an hour or so and then I'm annoyed that I could have had an extra hour in the park

 

[sohappy]

plans look GREAT! I am hoping to have a relaxed trip this time too. Not sure how many afternoon breaks we will take because my boys are opposite of Ash- up with the sun and can't hang past 10 or 11. I did plan an alllll swimming day on the day we change resorts. Start out at BC for a big long swimfest, lunch/ice cream at beaches and cream and then move to the Poly. Dinner at Ohana and lots more swimming!

 

[klacey1]

Your plans sounds great-- I love the idea of an all-princess day! You'll love TREX, also. The theming's great and we actually thought the food was really good, too.