Thin line tween Love and Hate WDW/Halloween TR Western Oct 24-Nov 6 updated 9/27

[M&M mom]

I am enjoying reading your trip report! Please finish!!!

 

[tammylwood]

I too am enjoying your trip report...it's like reading a book!

 

[Fastpaks]

I just found your TR and read through the entire PTR and then completely missed the first few days of your trip because I missed the links! I was on the day when you were at Animal Kingdom when I thought "Hey! what happened to the first part of your trip?!!" then backtracked and found the links.

I'm on day 1 where you start your journey but wanted to quickly say hi and thanks for sharing! The PTR was a blast reading and now I can wait to read the rest (and remind myself to not forget to look for the links to click on or I'll miss a day!).

On a side note, I also am so glad you took this trip with your family. Back in 1994 we had traveled from Oregon to Florida (my hubby and our five kids) in a van that kept breaking down every 300-400 miles in the heat of August. We got to see some wonderful country (Grand Canyon as an example) and had memories to cherish for years to come. We had planned to take the kids to WDW and a few other attractions and see if we wanted to stay in Florida permanently or travel up to WV to see if we wanted to move there near his family. Well our van literally died in front of the first hotel we stopped at in Kissimmee so we put the plans on the back burner to go to WDW and enrolled the kids in school. The day after Thanksgiving my husband suffered another heart attack and was airlifted to Orlando (this would be his 3rd before he reached 41 years of age). He was in ICU for 3 weeks when he decided he wanted to check himself out of the hospital to spend Christmas with the kids (he was to be airlifted to Jacksonville after January 1st to remain there for a heart transplant). Sadly, 3 days after he came home ("home" was the hotel room we had been staying at since August), he collapsed and died on 12/18/94. He never got to fulfill his dream of going to WDW (he had never been there and neither had our kids or myself) and he died at the age of 40. This was a huge awakening for me and our kids to take life slowly and enjoy each moment and each other.

Looking back a couple years (ouch), I can totally relate to enjoying the moment. It was the best thing I have ever done in my life. I'm sorry to hear about your family's dilemma but glad that you found a little light at the end.

Love your trip report. Hope to hear more!!

You will.. umm soon?

please tell me more about the conch house..

are they real conchs

Yes they were real conchs. You aren't allowed to get out of the tour buss because of it.

I am enjoying reading your trip report! Please finish!!!

Thanks! I totally will. The problem has been when I do have time to write, its generally late at night. The boards have been under maintenance or extremely sluggish. I get frustrated and then log. I will finish.... at some point.

I too am enjoying your trip report...it's like reading a book!

LOL, yeah fortunately for me War and Peace is a little longer so that makes no feel so long winded. Glad you are enjoying it.

 

[clayfolks]

Please finish this trip report so that we can hear about the next one!! I love your writing style and can't wait to read more. Thank you.

 

[Rozzy]

The morning in Grand Cayman was a refreshing to say the least. We walked off the tender into a little line that led to to a "opening of sorts" where those that were on cruise ships would gather. A couple little make shift stores selling the most basic items and taxi drivers holding signs offering rides if you wish. Our wish was to go to 7 mile, when I approached one driver and inquired about his services. He told me that he was a tour driver of the island. The tour would cost $20 a person. I asked him if he would stop at 7-mile and he said he could. I looked at my wife and asked her, to which she was pretty laid back and said sure.

We were led to the taxi/small buss where some other folks were on. A couple families from NCL and a DCL family would accompany us on this trip. After a few..... 20 minutes, the buss driver would show up and begin the tour. Folks were not happy about this, as they were told that they would go "shortly" and the driver was clearly waiting to fill the cab.

The driver was kind and very knowledgeable and if its your thing to do a tour its a good value. That said, by the end of the trip, I found out my family could careless about the tour. They [my family] just wanted to have fun!

First stop was the governors house.

The driver then explained that a house in the US that would retail for about 150k would be about 400k in GC such as this 2000sqft home.

We went by a few gas stations that I tried to get pictures from just so I could see how the $$ sign there is which resembles more of a hurricane if I recall correctly. He told us that our our dollar is about .80 cents to them. This is important because it is expensive for things on this island. The other interesting thing the driver mentioned was that water is a premium on the island. People still get water from their house from gutters like this one that feed in to a reservoir.

Not long after this we arrived at the Rum shop. Rum is dirt cheap. EXCEPT the rum is shipped back on to the ship. Disney doesn't except anything alcohol being shipped back to the ship.

In the back of the shop was a little party deck that was empty. I could get how the water was just so Aqua. Then the same water was sent to a water salt conversion plant right next store for processing of fresh water.

After about 20 minutes of hanging out, we were led to the back to the buss and onto to Hell.

My wife the little devil

I debated on putting up a photograph of the Hell phenomena but figure there isn't much to see there, so why spoil the one thing to see. lol. The stop is literally 2 shops, a post office and the "hell spot". Takes all of about 15 minutes to see everything.

After this we were off to the Turtle Farm where we stopped and were told we would be for about 30 minutes. At this point, folks were getting restless and many of us were a little tired of the tour. That and there was some sort of "catch" about the Turtle Farm area. I think the driver was a little surprised when no one wanted to get off the buss. When some of us made the suggestion to go to 7-mile, I think he was a little taken a back to going there instead. But he did take us there.

As we were pulling out of the Turtle Farm area, he had to maneuver the buss between 2 other buses. I drive for a living and I can tell you, I would NEVER try what this guy did. But to his credit, he drove between them with less than 2 inches to spare on both sides. Once we got to the beach, rather than being a stop for a said amount of time, we found out that he was going to drop us off. Which meant we were need to find another ride back. I was a little annoyed of that and I think others on the buss were too. So again no one got off the buss, and we finished the tour a little irritated at this point.

We drove by the Conch house, which is exactly what folks think and very unique.

Then he took us through the outer part of the island answering our questions. At some point, my family tuned him out when we saw this guys just hanging out.

About a hour later, we finished the tour at the docks where we were picked up at. Like I said, if you like tours this is your thing, if you don't then don't bother. Head to 7-mile. I think we wished we would have. But you live and you learn.

Next:Fun ...wasting away!!

I am so hooked and wish I knew how the rest of the trip went and what you and your family thought of the whole experience! Thank you for sharing