Michelle Kosloff - October 2005 - Old Key West Resort, Offsite

[Trip Reports]

Michelle Kosloff - October 2005 - Old Key West Resort, Offsite

Time of Year: Fall
Travel Method: Plane, personal car, rental car, Magical Express
Resort: OKWR, Offsite
Accommodations: 2-bedroom suite, standard
Ages Represented in Group: Toddler, Elementary, Teen, Adult
WDW Experience Represented in Group: Rookie, Infrequent, Frequent, Veteran, DVC Members
Comments: This trip report is for quite a large group. The occasion was the 40th anniversary of her parents wedding and most of the clan showed up at Disney World for the party.


Michelle Kosloff -- October 2005 -- Walt Disney World (OKWR, Offsite)

I love reading trip reports. It is my secret passion. My husband thinks I am crazy – and maybe I am. He thinks I am obsessed with Disney, but I tell him I would read trip reports from other places if there were a repository such as this one! Actually before we went to England a couple of years ago, I read some trip reports about trips to there but they were much harder to find.

Last time I wrote a trip report for the same reason and it was a great resource. I printed out sections for my scrapbook and I still go back and read it sometimes. I am glad I did it.

So, here this trip’s report. This only has my point of view and misses a lot of the stuff about what the rest of the family did.

WHO:
Since this was a family gathering including several smaller families, I will break it down into those small families… The gathering was for my parents, so I will list them first. The next 4 families are me and my three sister’s families. In the trip report, I will refer to them more as Suzy’s family or my family rather than the Kosloff’s, etc.

The Borré’s
Janice (Mom) - 62 - veteran
Joe (Dad) – 64 – veteran

The Kosloff’s
Michelle (me) – 37 – 2 visits in past 10 years. But prior to being married, I visited many times with my grandparents and parents.
Lee – husband – 34 (almost 35!) – 1 previous visit and one other where he did no parks
Titus – son – 13 – 2 previous visits
Alexandra – daughter – 9 – 2 previous visits – although doesn’t really remember the first visit.

The Moore’s
Andrea – 35 – veteran
John – 35 – veteran
Maxwell – 5 – veteran

The Moore’s (can you believe my two sister’s both married unrelated Moore’s?)
Suzy – 33 – frequent
Jay – 35? – now becoming frequent
Sydney – 2 ½ - 1st visit
Poor Samantha (1) had to stay home with her other Grandma and Grandpa. She was just a bit young for this jam-packed trip.

The Thomaes’
Janette – 30 – frequent
Poor Adam (Janette’s husband) decided to stay home because he is in school and he was worried about missing too much. He is top of his engineering class and wants to stay that way.

Others who were not able to attend
Granda – Mom’s Dad. He wanted to go but he has trouble getting around now and gets confused with change and felt that it would be too much for him.
Mystique – our dog – she went to the kennel. She is an Alaskan Malamute and would have hated the heat.
Brandy – Mom and Dad’s dog. She stayed with family friends

WHY:

My Mom and Dad’s 40th anniversary is this year and for the past couple of years my Mom has been talking about doing a big family event for it. She had been wanting to do a cruise. I, having a family that is very sensitive to motion sickness, was not too keen on the idea. I mean the idea of a cruise is to eat A LOT of great food and if you can’t eat because you are nauseous the whole time… They finally convinced me that on the new boats motion sickness is not a concern and I had come around to the idea. Then Andrea bought into DVC and had two years points use so she offered to host us all in a Grand Villa.

The next problem was when. My kids are older than all the others and are very involved in school and sports. Getting a time when they don’t have tryouts or some major tournament is tough. Also, Jay is a teacher so he could only take off set times. Luckily he is at a school with a modified school year – so they get off a shorter summer but have bigger breaks during the year. So we were aiming for Jan of 2006 – just after Christmas so we could catch the extra week off school. Then I found out the implementation date of the project I am on (I’m a computer programmer) – Jan of 2006. So they then proposed to change it to October – THIS October. A very bad time for my family because we are just doing a big move and are very short on time and money. Oh well, it’s a trip to WDW.

My Mom suggested that instead of spending each day as a humungous group that she and my dad spend the day with each ‘family’. I took it one step further and suggested that we each do that so that we can each spend time with each family. Andrea and Mom worked out a little schedule. The boys all made fun of us for doing this but it worked out pretty well and we weren’t trying to accommodate 13 different ideas of what to do all the time.

PLANNING:

So dates in place, Andrea made the reservations. We were reserved from Sunday to Friday at Old Key West – Friday and Saturday nights being so expensive point-wise. She had hoped to get a Grand Villa but one wasn’t available so she has booked two 2 bedrooms in Old Key West. It was booked the week after Canadian Thanksgiving weekend rather than joining with that weekend. It would have been better wrt getting time off work but it would have been busier.

My parents wanted to drive down and originally my family was going to drive with them. However I couldn’t take anymore time off work and it just seemed that we would be spending a lot of the vacation in the car. Around the same time flights went on sale very cheap so we (my smaller family only) decided to fly. More expensive but with the cost of gas and the less time spent traveling it was well worth it. After all was said and done, it wasn’t that much more and there would be much less exhaustion from driving.

My parents have decided to drive but the rest of us are flying. We are all flying out of the States because the price is SO much lower than flying out of Toronto.

Because we had the extra days from flying, I now needed one hotel night for the night we got there and two for the end of the week. Lee, being a thrill ride lover, also wanted to go to Universal Studios. So that would be our destination for the end of the week.

I had several plans for the hotels and rental cars with multiple reservations. I had hoped to use mostly points for hotels and points for some of the tickets. However when I went to reserve the hotels they told me that the nights reserved for points were sold out. It’s a rip off because there were lots of rooms left – how many do they reserve for people paying with points – 2? So anyways I was able to get a 50$ Best Western card which I applied to the last night’s hotel.

On the way there we had the Econo Lodge booked (in hind-sight a bad choice but more on that later). I had hoped to get a gift card for that as well but wasn’t able to. A lot of the programs offered gift cards for hotels but then stipulated that they had to be used on a two night stay which wouldn’t work for me because we needed 1 night at the beginning and one at the end.

I was able to get one Disney 5 day base ticket by using Air Miles (I had to upgrade it to premium when I got there). I could have gotten the Universal Tickets using Holiday Inn Priority club points but I had already transferred them to Air Miles before I realized. I also transferred some points around to get enough for Sears Club gift certificates which I was going to use to buy my Universal tickets and/or pay for my Universal hotel. When I talked to the internet support on the phone they told me I could do either but when I actually got into the office she said they couldn’t and didn’t have a clue. As it was with moving we had to buy new appliances so I just used the gift certificates towards them.

So I didn’t save nearly as much using points as I had hoped. 1 Disney 5 day base ticket and one $50 Best Western gift card.

I ordered some the other Disney tickets I needed through Ticket Mania. I had one child’s ticket left from a previous visit so I ordered one of their special child 2 day hopper DQ/Pleasure Island tickets and two 3 day hopper DQ/PI tickets. We didn’t end up using most of the DQ/Pleasure Island Pluses because we didn’t get to Disney Quest, but the tickets were still a great deal.

For our water park day, I waited till we got to the hotel and then bought those with a DVC discount since we were staying as DVC members.

For Universal we weren’t sure which way to go so I waited till we got to Florida to order them. I figured my Dad and John would have laptops (which they did) and I could order them online and because of the weather warnings I was glad we did wait. We ended up buying those at the hotel after all. I think we got a discount because we were staying onsite.


COUPLE OF WEEKS BEFORE:
We bought a house. Very bad timing but houses go so quickly through the market where we now live that when we found the house we wanted – good neighbourhood, good location, big enough, nice yard – we jumped on it. Our closing date coincided with our vacation. We could have closed before we left but decided to do it the day after we got back. Lee debated whether to not go with us and stay home to work on the house (he is a contractor and we will be replacing the kitchen). In this case, we would have closed before we left had he decided to stay home and work.

WEEK BEFORE:
We ran around like crazy getting all the stuff for the house and vacation. Lee decided to go on vacation after all and we arranged to take possession of the house when we get back. We signed the papers for our house and wrote out a few giant cheques.

This week, Andrea, John and Max flew out of Syracuse and go on a 3 day cruise before the rest of us come down.

DAY BEFORE:
My parents have decided to drive down and they drove right by our house so they have generously offered to transport a box of food for us. Since they were coming to do that, my sister Janette caught a ride with them to our place. Her flights are close to ours so she will go with us to the airport. We rush around like mad trying to get the stuff ready. We wanted to do our flights with just carry-ons so I had hoped to send clothes/shoes with my parents as well. But with everything going on this week I just don’t have time. I do get food and glow sticks in their car. Janette left her clothes with them and only took a back pack. In the end, Lee, the kids and I only pack 4 days of clothes since we know there are laundry facilities in the 2 bedrooms. We manage to get all the rest of the stuff we need into carry-ons. You know what? We didn’t miss all those extra clothes.

DAY 1 – SATURDAY OCTOBER 15th
The kids don’t have all the clothes they need because our washing keeps getting behind. We are in a temporary rental and we haven’t hooked up a dryer because its gas and we don’t want to pay to hook it up twice. Because it’s been a wet fall, stuff doesn’t dry well on the line. So Janette and I make a trip to the Laundromat to dry clothes. That done, we finish up the packing and we head out.

It’s about a 2 hour drive to Orchard Park (Buffalo) where we stop at Lee’s Aunt and Uncle’s place. Janette was worried about going through the border because her passport had just expired (so she left it at home) and her birth certificate is in her maiden name (of course) but her driver’s license is her married name. But we had no problems. The guy barely looked at us. He perked up when we said we were going to WDW but it was more like he wished he could go with us!

We had lunch at his relatives, chatted for awhile and then his uncle dropped us off at the airport.

Unfortunately Janette couldn’t get the same flights as us. Hers are better connections, but she will have to travel by herself. So we see her off on her plane and we head up to ours. Ours is already boarding! They end up leaving much earlier than expected because everyone is checked in and boarded. I have never seen that happen before!

Janette has to change planes in Atlanta and we do in Cincinnati. The Cincinnati airport is very nice. Back in Buffalo we asked for standbys on the earlier flight from Cin to Orlando and since our flight got in early we ‘Amazing Race’d’ over to the other terminal to try and get on. Unfortunately the flight was booked solid and no one decided to miss their flight. We were first on the stand by list but only one seat was available. We talked about splitting up but were only going to do it if we could do 2 and 2 so we gave up and went and had dinner. Quite a nice bar style restaurant. Everyone was watching a football game and seemed quite into it.

The airport at Cincinnati was very nice. I’ve had to travel a lot with work lately and I have to say that this was the nicest I’ve seen.

Janette got to Orlando around 9:20 and then took the hotel shuttle (she said it was a bit dodgy) to the Econo Lodge and checked in. We arrived at 11 and headed down to get our rental car. Not picking up bags is great and we get there and no one else is there. Maybe it has to do with getting in at 11pm as well.

We can’t understand the guy’s accent and when the price doesn’t look right I can’t make myself understood. We take the car anyways and I figure we will work it out later. It wasn’t out by that much – the price looks like the Canadian price so I figure if I have to swallow it, I’ll have to. We’re too tired to bang our heads. He tells us to make sure to only get an intermediate car.

So we go out and there are no intermediate cars. So we go to the girl out there and ask her and she says “take a minivan”. We look at her like she’s crazy and she says go ahead. She also says that all the Alamo cars and National cars are the same. As we are getting into the van we see that there are a couple of intermediate cars in the Alamo section so we ask her again on the way out and she says go ahead and take the van. I can’t believe this and ask her that there won’t be any problem with the price and she says no. I forgot to ask her about the wrong price on my rental agreement but just the same, for a van it’s an amazing price so no worries. As we go out of the parking garage we tell the girl there that there is a dent and some scratches and she says ‘What do you expect you’re going to be driving it? We take it back unless you total it.’ Hunh? Every other time I have rented a car they have been very paranoid about all these little things!

So we are on our way. We ask where the Econo Lodge is but obviously the guy who answered didn’t know because where he directed was not right at all. I find my paper and the address and we ask at a gas station. Finally we make it there. I go to the office and it’s a bit scary – but it’s only for the night. The desk guy seems a big dodgy and they are doing the shift change. I get the key and go to the room. The grounds are overgrown but the pool looks nice. It is shared with the attached Clarion Hotel which looks really nice. The room is ok, but is really showing its age. The beds were good enough.

A day later Janette realized that she didn’t have her credit card. She called to cancel it and they told her it had been used. She hadn’t used it since the Econo Lodge. We figure the desk guy realized she was flustered traveling by herself and just pocketed the card. Luckily she realized before we got home. Hopefully the credit card company will refund those charges.

As a side note when we were going home and putting the room on the card at the Best Western he also didn’t give our card back right away and we started to walk away before we remembered. We had to go back to ask him for it! He didn’t seem like an iffy guy, but you never know. So beware and make sure you get your credit card back when checking in.

Meanwhile Mom and Dad are still driving; Andrea, John and Max are still cruising.

Suzy and Jay hit big traffic on their way to the airport and thought they were going to miss their flight. Just as they called to notify the airline and change their flight, the traffic let up and they were after all able to make the flight. They got there just as they were boarding. They had a direct flight and arrived in around 9:30 and took a shuttle to their hotel, the Best Western (Suzy also had the $50 gift card from Air Miles). In the morning they took a shuttle back to the airport and then took the Magical Express to Old Key West. That was our original plan and I had Magical Express tickets but we decided to go with the rental car for the week after all. We were glad we had taken this option – the car was just so much more convenient and Lee really did not like taking the buses. He tends to get motion sick when not driving.

DAY 2 - SUNDAY – OCT. 16th

We didn’t sleep well. There were no roll-aways so Titus had to sleep on the floor – he probably slept best. Lee had a cough and couldn’t sleep. I heard him all night and couldn’t sleep. Poor Janette had to sleep with Alex who is ‘ahem’, a restless sleeper. Very, very sorry Janette!

So, we go for the ‘continental’ breakfast. We figured it would be skimpy and hoped for a donut or something. We walk in and there is coffee and about 10 slices of bread and a toaster and peanut butter packets. That’s it, that’s all. We have a slice of toast each and plan to get something later on.

I need sandals so we decide to stop at an outlet mall before heading over to WDW. Janette thought she remembered this one with a great shoe store, but she didn’t quite have the name right and we couldn’t find it. But we still found an Adidas outlet (I like sport flip flops not fancy-dancy things anyways). Unfortunately we forgot it was Sunday and it was closed till 11.

So we ditched that idea and headed to WDW (YAY!). We go on property no problem but then missed the turnoff for Old Key West and have to go around. We ended up going right out of the Disney property so we got to enter again. The kids thought it was pretty funny. We finally found OKW and as we were starting to check in, there is Suzy, Jay and Sydney already checking in. They rerequested Andrea’s room preferences – water view, rooms close to each other, at least one on the first floor.

We get through all the rigmarole and get my tickets straightened out – have to go to a separate counter and separate line ? I did have one more day left on the child’s than I had thought though – so we should still have one day left after this trip!

Suzy and Jay headed off to Epcot where they were going to meet Andrea, John and Max and we were going to the Magic Kingdom.

We have one goal there that cannot be accomplished the night of the Hallowe’en party. Titus wants to go to Tom Sawyer’s island. Has wanted to every trip but we’ve never gotten over there. Honestly it never interested me so I’ve never, ever been.

Anyways, we figure for MK, you always have to park and take some transportation and we are not going to be there long so we go to park at the Contemporary. We get a 3 hour parking pass, which is fine. We take the monorail over which is a nice start to the vacation.

We got into the MK and walked by the show at the Castle forecourt. We took a walkway that we didn’t remember from behind Casey’s right over to Liberty Square. I thought you couldn’t get through there before… Oh well. We hade one aim – Frontierland. We are all hungry though. We had bypassed the bakery because the line was long and decided to go to Pecos Bill’s.

When we get in Lee says he really wanted breakfast. I say he can go back to the bakery. He says no and settles on a hamburg. Titus also got a hamburg. Alex and I each get the Child’s chilled chicken which is surprisingly good. More than enough food. Janette got the chicken wrap which is very much like our chilled chicken but has a wrap – which she didn’t end up eating anyways – she just ate the inside. We really liked the toppings bar. Where else can you get as many fried mushrooms on the side – for free? After about $30 we are finally ready to have fun.

We walk over and Splash Mountain has a posted 5 minute wait so we go for it. I’ve never been on it. Well, it was much more than 5 minutes but not too long. Alex didn’t want to do this so we did a child swap. Wow this is a long ride. We wait and wait for Janette and Titus to come back. Lee and I finally get to do the ride and Janette takes Titus and Alex to get fastpasses for Thunder Mountain and a bathroom break. When we get off we head over to Tom Sawyer’s Island (Finally Titus!)

Tom Sawyer’s island was quite fun. However there were not too many people there and we took our time and played around which made it fun. There are little things you would miss if you just walk through. It would be boring. When we were in Injun’ Joe’s cave a guy who was ahead of us came out of one of the side passages and scared me so I screamed so then the goal was to try and see if we could scare each other. Great fun. The barrel bridge was fun too with Lee trying to wobble everyone.

We left Tom Sawyer’s island after admitting to Titus that it really was lots of fun and went on Big Thunder. Alex was scared but she agreed to go with us and as we finished she said ‘Again!’ I told her do you understand now; I won’t let you do rides I know will be too much for you. Splash Mountain would be fine for you – she still wouldn’t do it this trip but I think it was a will power thing rather than her really being scared.

At this point we had done what we needed and were saving the rest for the Hallowe’en party so we hopped on the train to head around to the front of the park. Wow, is this train slow. We could have walked to the front by the time we got there. Oh well, it was relaxing. We headed out and got back to the Contemporary well under our 3 hours.

Alex wanted to swim so we headed back to the hotel (it was a great idea and we were very glad she suggested it). We check in and one of the rooms was ready. It was Janette’s – the one that was supposed to be on the first floor – but was on the second. We figured Andrea would sort it out when she got back so we didn’t really unload or unpack except to get our swim suits. The rooms were fabulous! We were in building 55 which is out of the way and overlooking the river. The quiet pool was right next door. It was just beautiful and nothing quite compared after this.

The rooms were split up like this – in ours Jay and Suzy took the king size bedroom. Sydney slept on a blow up bed on the floor. We slept in the two queen sizes. Downstairs Andrea and John took the king size and Max slept on a bed on the floor (he tends to fall out of bed all the time and he likes his own room so this way he could get that). Mom and Dad took one queen size bed and Janette had the other. No one used the pull out beds. There were tons of room and even when their kids get bigger we would still be fine.

So we went and played in the pool, soaked in the hot tub and played a bit more. When we headed back to the room, Suzy was back and Andrea was there. Andrea did take care of getting the rooms and keys sorted out. After that was done we got cleaned up and were going to head out for dinner when my parents showed up. We helped them unload – after all they had brought our food package and stopped at the store for the perishables. We finally headed out and headed offsite for dinner.

We ate the Golden Corral which we had seen in our misadventure in finding the hotel in the morning. It was a buffet with buffet food but it actually had grilled steak grilled right in front of you. It was pretty good and much cheaper than Disney.

We headed over to MGM to catch the extra magic hours. We got there about 6:15 hoping to get some shows before it actually closed for the day. Unfortunately we didn’t realize that all the shows finished early and by 6 – even though the park actually closed at 9 (and 12 for extra magic hour) - all the shows were done for the day! Only the Little Mermaid was still running for the evening! Oh well, we did all the things we could and did everything open for extra magic hours. We did not do Fantasmic! as we had seen it last time and none of us were crazy about (sorry to those of you who just love it). I didn’t really like the water screens and found the story disjointed.

We saw Muppets 4D – fun as always. Janette had to see this as she has always been a BIG Kermit fan. Missed the Little Mermaid and went to see Disney Animation. We got the impression that we would actually get to draw a Disney character but maybe we missed something and we were only able to colour on the computer or find out what character we would be. Janette was Ariel, Alex was Tinkerbelle. The rest of us were evil, preferring to ‘Eat Nice People for Lunch’. I was Maleficent, Lee – Hopper and Titus was Jafar. Alex had great fun with this and for days would say – ‘there you are!’

We went to get our wristbands and I realized I had misplaced my room key – and it had charging on it! I was pretty sure it was back at the room so Lee and I were going to drive back to the room to get it when we thought of guest services. We stopped there and he cancelled my key and told me to try to get a wrist band with a regular id. I was able to get the band and so avoided the trip back to the hotel.

We did the Tower of Terror, doing the child swap again for Alex. The drops weren’t that scary as they were the first time I did it a few years ago. I guess I knew what to expect. I find that drops don’t make me feel nauseous like roller coasters or spinning does.

Lee, Janette and Titus then did Rock ‘n Roller Coaster while Alex and I shopped. I know we also did the Great Movie ride somewhere in there too. We finally caught the Little Mermaid which was actually a very good show. Even Titus, who was prepared to hate it, liked it. Finally they did another ride on Rock n’ Roller Coaster (which Lee insisted on calling Rock n’ Roll Express). We headed back to OKW before the midnight closing. The funny thing was, when coming out, we hopped on the tram and then had to ride it right out to the end of the parking lot before coming back to where our car was parked near the front – silly us.

Then the funniest thing of all. We went to the van and Lee was pressing the remote and was going ‘it doesn’t seem to be working’. Finally he goes – oh, it worked. We all start getting in and I notice that the child seat is down. I think ‘funny I don’t remember doing that’. Janette says ‘our paper’s aren’t here’. We all get out feeling real stupid and notice some other people heading towards the van and starting to turn around. They must have pushed their remote right when Lee did. We apologize profusely and head to our van and laugh ourselves silly. The license plate on our rental was from North Carolina (we picked it because it would be easier to spot) and we didn’t even notice that this one had Florida. It was also parked much, much closer than we were so I don’t know why we thought it was ours. Just call it tiredness.

We drove back to Old Key West and turned in… Oh, Alex decided to sleep in the closet on pillows and couch cushions rather than with Titus on the Queen size bed or on the pull out couch in the front room. Her choice I swear! She was quite comfortable in there – it really is quite a big closet.

DAY 3 – MONDAY

Today was our ‘relaxing’ day. We had decided to go to Typhoon Lagoon – as did everyone else. We were slated to spend the day with Suzy, Jay and Sydney. Since TL opens later, we were able to sleep in a bit. We all piled in the van and headed out. After a stop to pick up some chapstick with sunscreen we drove over to Typhoon Lagoon.

We walked in and started looking for a place to park our bodies for the day. I mistakenly thought that the best area would be one of the bays of the wave pool so we looked for seats around there. We found some that were shaded on both sides. It wouldn’t have been bad but people kept walking by. Suzy later said she preferred a cove area which I didn’t know existed. Oh well, we managed.

We brought in a cooler on wheels with us with our lunches. It was no problem with security – they only checked that it didn’t have any glass or alcohol. Suzy and Jay took Sydney on the slide right near us in the bay and we headed to the shark reef.

We went through one time and Alex didn’t wear a life jacket. She could swim it ok but had a hard time not kicking and we worried about her and she didn’t really get to enjoy it. So the next time through she got a life jacket and was able to float through and enjoy it more. Just ask where you get the masks and snorkels. None of us used the snorkels either. You don’t have to but it seems like you do because they give them to you. If you aren’t used to them though, you will enjoy it more if you just don’t use them and just lift your head when you need to breathe. The shark reef was one of the highlights of our trip.

We rejoined Jay and the boys went off to ride some slides while Alex and I went to go on Castaway creek. We met up with Suzy and Sydney and we all went together. The entry near us was really busy so we headed over a bit and didn’t have to wait in any line. Alex and I got our own tubes but when we came across a double one, we switched. Suzy just sat Sydney on her lap. Sydney would fall through if she went on the one side of the double tube. This was a nice relaxing trip.

We went back and ate a bit of our lunch and hooked up again with the boys and headed for the family raft ride. This was the longest wait of the day and the most disappointing. We were expecting something like the family raft ride at Blizzard beach but this was much, much shorter. Not worth the wait. We then split up again and we did a couple of tube rides with Alex – all she felt comfortable to do. We then went over to Crush n’ Gusher. Lee went in the single line and me and the kids went in a three person tube. We got to the top and when they told Alex she had to go in front (for weight distribution) she panicked and didn’t want to go. As long as she thought she was in the middle she could handle it. We finally left our raft there and Titus met up and went down with Lee and Alex and I took an elevator down.

We met back up with Jay and Suzy. The boys and Alex went in the wave pool and I joined Suzy and Sydney in the kiddy area. Quite a fun area for the kids. There is even a tube ride that is quite long for little kids. Calm enough and shallow enough that you don’t worry about them. Still, Sydney is still only two, so I would take her up to the top and put her on her tube and Suzy would take her off at the bottom. Kids a bit older could do it themselves. Sydney liked the water jets and the other short slides as well.

We had to be back for 5 so we headed out around 4ish. We forgot to see our pictures so we went back but we didn’t end up buying any. I wish these could have gone on the photo pass cards. I don’t like having to buy them there.

This was to be the night we celebrated our parent’s 40th anniversary. We were having appetizers and cake in the room. Lee took the kids to get them out of our hair and we all made ‘dinner’. It was really nice to be able to sit around and talk and have a nice dinner. My dad had hurt his knee at Typhoon Lagoon that day (just in the sand not on any slides) so he was a bit down but he joined in.

Lee and the kids had lots of fun at Hanks where they had lots of kid’s activities and a pool table, ping pong and an air hockey game – all free. This was a nice perk and we went there a couple of times to play.

Lee and the kids finally made it back because they had to leave because Sydney got a little stinky. We munched a bit and then did the cake and gave them a special present. It was a picture frame Suzy and Andrea had picked out at Epcot. We had wanted to get them a brick on the Walk Around the World but they don’t sell them anymore – just the Leave a Legacy tiles which none of us like.

For the cake, Suzy, a cake decorator, had printed out a special icing sheet picture from her computer (sounds weird but it works and is pretty cool) and we bought a plain cake to which she applied the sheet. It had to be cut down a bit and it didn’t adhere like it would have to one of her cakes at home (humidity or different icing types – who knows) but it was pretty good and did the job.

We then split up again as my parents, Andrea and Suzy wanted to go to Jellyrolls while Janette, Lee and I wanted to go to Pleasure Island. Titus stayed home to baby-sit the kids. Turned out Dad didn’t end up going because his knee was bothering him and Jay didn’t either because he was too tired. Titus still got paid lucky boy. Jay did stay down in the other room but he was there if he needed anything. When Lee had taken the kids he had rented some movies from Hanks for the kids and they enjoyed those before going to bed.

I hear Jellyrolls was good but we had a really fun time at Pleasure Island. I have not laughed so hard in ages. We first went to the Comedy Warehouse. It was funny. But then the real fun started when we headed over to the Adventurer’s club. We got there just before the swearing in of new members. As we were doing the little song with actions, Hathaway Browne, the dashing ladies man, singled out Janette. She is pretty, was wearing a red shirt and didn’t do the action where she had to slap her butt. He called her ‘the red-shirted girl’. He did lovey faces at her and tried to get her to do the action but Janette, being extremely shy, wouldn’t do it. I just about died laughing.

After that we went to a library show – the Balderdash Cup. Again Hathaway singled her out and came over and hugged her and climbed on her lap. We just about died again. Afterwards people were calling her the ‘red shirted girl’ and pointing her out all over. We stayed for one more show – the Hallowe’en Jubilee which was also very funny. Luckily by then, Hathaway had picked another girl for his attention. But, that was all Janette wanted to take, even though he had moved on to someone else.

We went over to the beach club to play pool as Lee and Janette had a bet. They had bet that whoever lost got to do up the other for the Hallowe’en party. Lee would do Janette’s hair with lots of colours or Janette would do Lee’s nails. I played too because I like playing pool but I didn’t affect their bet. Janette won the first game and Lee won the second. Then it was time for the last Comedy show so we hustled over there with the bet unresolved. The last show was very funny and we enjoyed it a lot.

We headed out after that. When we got to the bus stop there was no bus there but another moved up and took us back. They must be flexible at night. Those poor bus drivers having to put up with all those drunken people. Lee was up front trying to direct him as he asked where we needed to go, but I think he was more a hindrance than a help.

We made it home and went right to bed. We would pay tomorrow – we’re not as young as we used to be.

DAY 4 – TUESDAY

This was our day to ourselves. We headed to EPCOT because this was Titus’ other ‘must do’. We headed right over to the land for a fast pass for Soarin’ because I had heard that they were gone by noon. We got one for a couple of hours later. We got a snack and then headed out but stopped to see the Circle of Life – the Lion King environmental movie. I’d never seen in and I probably won’t again. It wasn’t bad or anything just not too exciting.

We then headed over to see Honey I Shrunk the Audience. The kids for some reason had refused to watch this last time and this time they were both fearful. Turns out they had read in the Birnbaum’s ‘WDW for Kids by Kids’ that this show was very scary. We went in anyways and both of them spent much of the time scared and/or without their glasses on. I think the build up was scarier than the movie! Lee and I thought it was quite good.

We rode the imagination ride after at Alex’s request. It’s not bad. We played around in the Imagination Station afterwards but couldn’t get on to send an email. No biggie. We then headed back to ride Soarin’. A very good ride and Lee really, really enjoyed this one. He was very concerned going in that it would make him motion sick. He is very sensitive to spinning and motion simulators (like Body Wars) but can handle roller coasters no problem – go figure – they all make me sick. But other than one or two points in Soarin’ it didn’t cause any distress.

As we were heading out this lady looks at me and asked ‘Do you want to do Test Track next?’ I thought she thought I was someone else from her party and ignored her and then she asked again. Turns out she had some fast passes she couldn’t use so I said sure and we headed over there.

Unfortunately the ride had broken down and we waited quite awhile in that noisy line. We found the outside ride faster than the last time we did it, but it wouldn’t be something we would wait a long time for. Too much of a commercial. In fact, that is why Lee liked EPCOT the least – he said it felt like one big commercial. The kids loved Test Track though.

We then headed out after doing a ride on Spaceship Earth. I think Lee fell asleep as he was still feeling poorly from the night before. I admit I almost did too.

We had taken the bus this morning and luckily one came up as soon as we got to the turnstiles. I had always liked the buses before but this trip convinced us that taking the car is much more comfortable.

So anyways we went back to the room for lunch (frozen pizza) and a rest. I don’t think we swam this day. Later on we headed out to Animal Kingdom as it was their late Extra Magic Hours. Again a lot of the stuff we wanted to see was closed. I was disappointed that the nature walks where closed. I had figured they would be open because you don’t need too many people to run them right? I figured the safari would be closed but we were there last time and we were ok with that. I was very disappointed that the Legend of the Lion King was not on. We could have actually caught the last one of the day had we looked at the schedule when we first came in but we didn’t…

Anyways, we had intended to bring extra clothes but we had forgotten. We decided to go on Kali River Rapids anyways – how bad can it be? Well, Lee and Alex got totally dunked and the half of me that was on their side was drenched. Titus got of with light droplets – and he had the lightest shorts that would have dried in no time anyways. Where is the fairness in that? The worst was that the ride was so short no one could believe it was done. It was hardly worth the drenching. We won’t be doing this one again.

We ended up buying Alex a new sundress (it’s very pretty and wasn’t that expensive so we are quite happy with it). Lee and I looked for new shorts as we both had jean shorts on but we couldn’t find any. Why is it there are tons of stores around except when you need them. We headed over to Chester and Hester’s for a bit. Rode Primeval Whirl and both Lee and I felt sick. We didn’t remember how much it spun. We offered the kids to ride again but when we said we weren’t doing it, they didn’t want to anyways. We let them go in the playground while we looked around a bit more for some shorts.

We then headed out for Tarzan. We had amazing seats and it was a very good show. We learned from last time – don’t sit in the front sections that are on either side of the walkway – you miss a lot that is happening on the walkways. You are better to sit as far down in the middle section just above the sound booth as possible. Anyways, it was very good but very loud.

We headed back to Chester and Hester’s but realized that the kids did not really want to do Dinosaur and did not want to do a Bug’s Life so we decided to just head out. We did look at the animals on the way out. It really is a beautifully themed park. I wouldn’t have minded seeing Flights of Wonder but it was closed for the evening as well.

We went back to the hotel and decided to go to Olivia’s for dinner. It was very good but expensive as all of WDW is. This was our one big dinner this week. I had crab cakes and the conch soup. The crab cakes were amazing but the soup boring - just seemed a vegetable/tomatoey soup. Lee and Titus had the catch of the day – grouper. They both liked it but not the vegetables. Alex had chicken fingers which were good but she barely touched them.

We bought a few groceries in Conch Flats (candy and coffee) and played a bit of pool at Hanks while Titus played a couple of video games and Alex played air hockey with a little boy who was there. It’s very nice that they have all these things for guests. You could spend a week here without ever setting foot in the parks. We rented a movie and headed back.

We watched about a half hour of the movie before we were all falling asleep so we went to bed. Zzzzz

DAY 5 – WEDNESDAY

Today was our day with Andrea’s family. They are definite veterans with season’s passes. MGM is John’s favourite park and we had missed so many shows so that is where we headed. We saw Sully and Mike on the way through the park. We didn’t look at our schedule and we headed back to get fast passes for the new Lights, Motors, Action! They weren’t available that day ? So we headed to the nearby Honey I Shrunk the Kids playground. The kids played on the slides and even Lee and I climbed the spider web. Lots of fun.

We then headed towards the Millionaire show and saw a few characters with no line. We saw Sorcerer Mickey with no wait! We also saw Donald Duck which was the one character Titus really wanted to see. We still had time before the show so we headed over to find drinks and we got in line to see Mulan (my favourite). I also had my Mulan shirt on (I forgot to say that Andrea and Janette had designed us all shirts online before we left. They had our favourite characters on them and for the most part appropriate sayings and our names. They were not able to get all the same coloured shirts or the same fonts because certain characters didn’t go with certain ones but you could tell we were a family). Anways I would have loved to have her sign it but I thought that they wouldn’t sign a shirt you are wearing so I just had to settle for a regular autograph. She did like my shirt though ?

We headed back to the Millionaire show. None of us even got on the leader board so we need to learn the trick of it because we had the right answers… It was fun though and I really enjoyed it. We then headed back to the Lights, Motors show. It was very good but very hot. Our seats were in the sun and I think we were all wilting after this.

We then headed back and thought we would do Indiana Jones but that was sold out. So we did Sounds Dangerous which wasn’t as bad as I had assumed by reading other people’s reports. After that we headed out for lunch.

We at left over pizza and Mac & cheese in the room and Andrea, John and Max ate takeout near the main pool. We joined them there for a swim. The pool was so warm it wasn’t refreshing! I also banged my knee on the bottom of the pool coming off the slide. You go off there with a lot of force. The kids really liked the slide and must have gone up and down a dozen times. Lee was napping back at the room but got woken up by the maid right after he got to sleep – this was her one day to do trash and towels. So he joined us pool and then we headed back.

For the evening we headed to EPCOT to see a bit of the World Showcase. First we stopped for fast passes for Soarin’ since Andrea’s family had never seen it. We then did the Living with the Land ride. I hadn’t been on this for years and years and years and didn’t remember a lot of it. I only remember seeing the greenhouses – is the first part new? We all lamented the loss of Food Rocks. We all enjoyed that show.

We then headed out to the World Showcase – Titus really wanted to do this. We talked to the Canadians there and asked them how their costumes are Canadian. They said they were trying to figure it out too. It was just fun to kid other Canadians. We then stopped to see Off Kilter. We just moved away from Atlantic Canada where Celtic rock is popular so I admit I wasn’t blown away by the music. I am used to more fiddle music in it – and they don’t wear kilts. They only announced that the one of the guys was from Oshawa, Ontario and then just announced the names of the others – is he the only Canadian? Titus really enjoyed them which surprised me because he looked just blasé watching them.

There were several little girls out dancing and they were quite cute. You could tell two were sisters. One fell down and hurt her knee. She limped off to her mother and started to cry. So the younger one lay down on the pavement and then got up and limped off and starting to cry. It was hilarious. The power of the older sibling.

We then went to the UK. We’ve been to the real UK with the kids 2 years ago and by ourselves 2 years before that, so it was sort of nostalgic, sort of. But really, we’ve seen that in person and this doesn’t compare. But we ran into my parents and Janette so we had a little chat on how our days were going. I am afraid to say that they were all a little tipsy after ‘drinking wine around the World’. They would take turns buying something at each of the booths and then sharing but it was still a lot for them.

Winnie the Pooh, Eeyore and Tigger were there so Alex HAD to see them. Lee and Max joined us and we got pictures of them all. We always have to get a picture of Lee with Tigger because his nickname growing up was Tigger.

After that Andrea was hungry (just pregnant so she has to eat regularly or she feels ill) so we headed for dinner. We have to be careful where we eat because Max is allergic to shellfish. We didn’t want burgers or fries, but something different. We finally decided on the Yakatori in Japan because their shrimp is not grilled with the other meat or cooked in pans with the rice or anything, but are kept separate. They gave practice chopsticks for the kids that were tied together with elastic bands which was fun for them. It was an ok dinner but nothing exceptional.

We then headed back to France for the bakery – yummy! We spoke French to the girl but I am not sure she appreciated our Quebecois/English accents. We asked her what the cream puff Lee ordered is in French and she had a conversation with the other girl and they decided there is no name because it’s not really French. So how much of the stuff is actually French there?

We looked through a few places and Alex got stamps at a few. The girls in Japan were really nice and explained as best they could about the lucky cats.

Finally Alex and Max bugged enough to go on Test Track that we headed there. It was just starting to rain as we went by the Odyssey but it was still running. They announced that it could be cancelled at any time and we were worried about making it back over to Soarin’ in time, but no worries, we got through lickety split and it was a fun ride. Much more fun since we didn’t wait long at all. It seemed even faster in the dark…

We then headed over to Soarin’. John who also gets motion sick didn’t find he did, but did feel a little funny when we went over the mountains. We were in the second row again.

On the way out, John and Andrea stopped in the Art of Disney Store (is that what it’s called in Epcot?) and we watched a bit of the fireworks. Alex used to be deathly afraid of fireworks but she seemed ok with it this time. We headed out – exhausted. We fell into bed again. Thank goodness tomorrow we can sleep in!

DAY 6 – THURSDAY

We had no plans today till the evening. Lee wanted to get a few things for dressing up for Hallowe’en and I still wanted to get some sandals. My Adidas flip flops which I love had come apart and glue wouldn’t hold them and I had humungous blisters on two of my toes from my running shoes so I needed something more comfortable. So we went out for a bit of shopping.

Today was our day with Mom and Dad. Dad wanted to rest his knee for the evening so he stayed home and Mom came with us. Mom directed us to the outlets near WDW. We got a few things – great prices. You don’t get sales as good in Canada. I got flip flops and sandals. Alex got flip flops and Titus got 2 pairs of shorts. We then headed to Wal-Mart down Vineland and this one is so much nicer than the other one we had been to before. Very nice and not busy at all.

Lee got Hallowe’en hair sprays and some hair glue. I got a skirt and some glow in the dark nail polish. Mom got a few clothes.

We went back and had lunch. We had lots of fun getting ready for the party. Andrea’s family, Janette and Mom and Dad all had orange shirts from the Hallowe’en party last year and they got the rest of us some orange shirts to match. The younger kids wore costumes – Alex was a gothic girl, Max was Peter Pan and Sydney was Tinkerbelle. We painted nails (finger and toe) orange and glow in the dark. Janette brought jeweled stick on tattoos for everyone which we put on. We spray painted hair all colours and black light glow colour (that looked really cool in the dark rides). Lee gelled his hair into spikes and put on black and white eye makeup. He was the only one to not wear and orange shirt (party pooper) but he did dress up more than the rest of us so I guess we’ll forgive him.

The others all left for a reservation at Liberty Tree Tavern. Mom, Dad and my family intended to eat at Tomorrowland terrace. We got there about 4:30 or so. We waited for a tram from the parking lot but when we got on we discovered that we were parked really close to the front. Less walking for my Dad anyways. When we got to the monorail there was only a couple of other people there so I asked to sit in the front and we were able. Lee and the kids had never done that. The driver gave us co-pilot licenses but didn’t seem very happy about his job. He was one of the only CMs who didn’t seem cheery. Maybe he was just having a bad day.

We had to go through a special turnstile and they were just bringing out the trick or treat bags when we went in. We went to Tomorrowland expecting that that was where we had to go later. We went on Buzz Lightyear, the Carousel of Progress, and I took Alex on the TTA while the others went on Stitch’s escape.

We found out that we had to go to Frontierland rather than Tomorrowland as in other years and we weren’t able to go on any more rides there till later. We headed over to Frontierland and looked for something to eat. Unfortunately we ended up at Pecos Bill’s again. Not that it’s bad or anything, just I’d have rather tried somewhere else.

Alex had the chilled chicken again and Titus had a hamburg again. I had a hamburg this time and Lee had franks and beans from the children’s menu. My parents had pulled pork sandwiches which also came with beans. I was tempted by that but had a real craving for a burger. They were good and again we enjoyed the toppings bar.

We had brought FRS radios to hook up with the other guys to get our picture all together and got them just as they were going into the Country Bears. When they came out we were just about to eat so we said we would catch them later. Unfortunately their radio died and we never met up till much, much later and we wrongly assumed they had left and got our picture done without them – so no family picture?.

We saw Pirates and Aladdin’s flying carpets. I was disappointed that the Jungle Cruise was closed and Alex was that the Tiki birds were. We then headed up to the Haunted Mansion which Alex finally went on. She was ok with it. It’s always been my favourite sot here was no question – I had to go on that. I later heard that Andrea fell asleep on it! There was CM lady dressed as a ghost outside. She had a fabulous costume and was telling people that we could take her picture but she was sure it would be blank when we developed it. She did a great acting job.

We saw Cinderella’s coach all decked out and got a picture in front of that. We then did It’s a Small World (to Titus’ chagrin), Peter Pan’s Flight, Mickey’s Philharmagic (a favourite of everyone) and Snow White’s scary adventure. Got a few drinks as it was still very hot and we were all very thirsty. We then saw the fireworks from Fantasyland. I am told that the view of the normal fireworks is great from here, but for the Hallowe’en party where they do extra fireworks it was not the best. We kept on having to turn around and around to see them all.

We then headed back to Frontierland to go on Big Thunder again (Alex’s request) and to see the parade. We didn’t see the headless horseman – were we too late or was he not in the parade this year?

We then got our picture and headed to Tomorrowland for Space Mountain. Alex went on this one too and enjoyed it surprisingly. She tried a lot of new things this trip.

We had been trick and treating all along but the most of the stations and characters were in Toontowne and the kids had heard about this so we had to head there. We limped that way and found the free face painting. Alex was very happy because she had wanted to pay for that the other day and we just hadn’t had time. Those guys are quick and she was done in less than 5 minutes. The kids and Lee rode the barnstormer and we went out by the Treat Alley (back path to Tomorrowland). Exhausted, we headed out.

We got one more trick or treat at the exit, limped to the monorail and again to the tram (too tired to walk even if we were parked close). Hopped in the car and drove back and flopped into bed.

Overall the party was great. There seemed to be a lot of people there at times but there were never lines for attractions. I was disappointed that the Jungle Cruise and Tiki Birds were closed but earlier in the week, I should have checked what wouldn’t be open so we could have visited those on the day we went to the MK. Next time I would go to the front of the castle for the fireworks. I don’t know if I would wait for the parade. I definitely wouldn’t wait a long time for it, but if you could do like we did and just plop down before the parade, it was worth it. The choreography was great and the dancers were great, but I am just not a parade person…

DAY 7 – FRIDAY

Today we had to check out. All the others were planning on going to a character breakfast at Cape May at 9:30. We decided we didn’t need to go to special breakfast – our money would be better spent elsewhere. We are ‘cereal in the morning’ people and a breakfast is sort of a waste for us. Anyways, I don’t think anyone was even moving early enough to get to it ?. They had to call to cancel.

I thought I had lots of time and put in a load of laundry but it wasn’t done drying by 11 when we had to go out. The maid was sitting outside our room from about 10:30. Poor her, but we had till 11 and we used every minute to get everything. I left her a tip by our bed – but how much are you supposed to tip when you stay DVC and they only come in once to replace towels and take out the garbage?

Tipping is the most confusing thing to me – I never know how much and when. I tip at restaurants, but I don’t at counter service places. I hate that they put out a cup. I tip the guys that bring up luggage to the room and hair dressers and shuttle drivers. I wish there were a little guide though. Sorry for the little tangent.

We got out just after 11 and took a family photo in front of the building. My dad was trying to figure out the timer but luckily some guy came by and was willing to snap the picture so we got it done. The others all decided to go to Olivia’s for breakfast but we decided to head straight over to the Royal Pacific Resort at Universal and check in there. We wanted to get some pool time and possibly some shopping.

Andrea, John and Max were going over to Universal too, but later. Mom and Dad were starting their drive home. Suzy, Jay and Sydney had booked an offsite hotel close to Disney and were staying there for a couple more days. They had rented a car for just this weekend.

We drove over to Universal, into the hotel area and by the guard at the gate. We pulled up to the front and the kids and I hopped out and Lee drove on to the self-parking. I forgot my credit card and Loewe’s membership (free on the internet and well worth getting – we got cookies and milk in our room just for having this – you could have gotten, wine or beer or a surprise gift). I had to run back to the car to get it.

We checked in and put charging on our room because at Disney we found this very convenient. However here they put a hold on my credit card for the maximum for both days and that made my credit card over the limit and caused it to be declined when we went out for dinner – very embarrassing. We weren’t going into the parks this day anyways and we checked out the next before we could use it so it was sort of stupid.

I got a special rate (if you can call it that) of $229 per night which included 2 breakfasts at the Island Dining Room in the morning. We’d just have to pay for the kids (well one kid and one adult since Titus is 13 and is taller and eats more than me so no one would mistake him for child’s age).

We then went to the concierge to get our tickets. I was too tired to do the park today and as I said, the kids were looking for pool time. So we went with 1 day, 2 parks since we would be meeting up with Andrea, John and Max who have season’s passes and we would be doing 2 parks. They didn’t offer the 1 day, 2 park passes online so I had thought I would have to buy the 2 day ones and save the second day. In the long run, the 2 day was a better deal but I was short of funds so we went for less money in the short run. We thought about going to the Horror Nights and leaving the kids back in the room since Titus can baby-sit, but I didn’t think I had the stamina. It was a good deal because if you bought your regular tickets at the same time and stayed onsite, I think it was $20 or $30 less. Next time…

Anyways we went up to the room. It was very, very nice – but small – especially after Old Key West. The view however was spectacular. We were on the 7th floor and could see Islands of Adventure right in front of us. We could see and even hear the Hulk and Dr. Doomfall. Made Lee really, really want to do those rides.

We went down to the pool area. Popped into the laundry to finish drying our clothes that didn’t get done before we checked out of OKW. We swam with the kids. The water was very cool and there was no slide. So after Disney, the pool, although very nice, was underwhelming. They had a very nice sprinkle area for little kids but most of the water guns weren’t working.

Lee and I left to get the laundry and to take it back up to the room and the kids stayed in the pool a bit more. Then we went out for a bit of shopping. Adidas outlet again. We got Titus some shoes and Alex some clothes. Great deal on both. Then we looked for dinner – only about 4. It was early but we had only had breakfast. We were looking for the Olive Garden. I had printed out the address from the Web Site and printed out directions from Map Quest but somehow we drove past. We drove back again and it was closed – really closed – shut down sort of closed! Why hadn’t they removed it from the web site?

We almost went to some buffet that was advertising steak because Lee felt like steak but I thought it looked cheap and tacky. We ended up at the Aussie Steakhouse which although good was over priced (in our opinion). We bought some Band-Aids at the Walgreen’s and we went back to Universal.

They were supposed to have a torch lighting ceremony and a movie by the pool that night but it started to rain so neither happened. The rain stopped so we took a trip over to city walk with the kids but we weren’t too much into it so we just went back to the hotel. Lee and Alex went back to the pool while Titus and I enjoyed some milk and cookies. When Lee and Alex got back we ordered the movie Herbie the Love Bug.

I am sorry to say I fell asleep in the movie because I really wanted to see it. It looked very cute. The kids enjoyed it. I had totally forgotten I had done that till yesterday when Alex and I went to rent movies and I was trying to get her to rent that one and she said ‘Mom, don’t you remember we saw that at the hotel’ – Uh, sorry I don’t.

Anyways, just before everyone went to sleep I woke up choking and had to take some cough medicine. Thanks to Lee for his nice cough. It wasn’t bad when I was up in the day, but at night it was hard to sleep. I have a touch of asthma and find it hard to breathe when I get chest colds.

SAY 8 – SATURDAY

Since we only had the one day and since I knew that Andrea, John and Max are early risers, we got up pretty early. We went for our breakfast. It was a very, very good breakfast buffet. The kids and I all got made to order omelets. I also got bacon and strawberries. Lee went the pancakes, French toast route. The orange juice was totally delicious. The server was really great too. After we paid the bill and we left we were discussing the tip (again, how do you tip for a buffet?) we realized that Lee had only tipped on the bill for the kids (which was still a lot because Titus was charged as an adult). He felt bad all day so if that waiter is out there – sorry.

We then checked out. They assured me that the hold on my credit card would be lifted – but even after I got home it wasn’t – the credit card people told me it can take 5 to 7 business days – so beware. I didn’t have this problem at Disney – do they manage it differently?

We drove over to the Hard Rock Hotel to meet AJ&M. We had no problem parking there since we had already paid for parking at the Royal Pacific (no choice and the one reason I was not so impressed with them – I mean if I am paying over $200 a night, I’d like parking to be included). The Hard Rock and Royal Pacific (and the Portofino) are all owned by Loews. We liked the atmosphere at the Hard Rock – a little less stuffy but a little noisier than the Royal Pacific. Their pool had a slide as well which would have been nice. Next time.

We walked over to Islands of Adventure. We let them take a picture at the entrance (which I normally don’t do because I don’t like the pressure to buy them – but we thought it would be a nice souvenir of our day together). It was nice going with Andrea and John because they have been so many times it was like having personal tour guides. We went over to Marvel Hero Island but didn’t feel up to the Hulk yet so we went on Spider Man. We could have walked right through the regular line but we still used the Express Pass line (it was like this for most of the day at IOA). Our cards showed expired because we had checked out day so they had to manually check the end date and they let us in. This happened at every ride. Why don’t they fix their machines so they register on the day you check out?

Anyways, a way cool ride but it made Lee and I feel a little nauseous. So much spinning. I don’t remember the order of things but we just followed the Islands around and rode pretty much everything. We did not do Dudley Do Right or Ripshaw falls as none of us wanted to get wet. We did the Jurassic River ride (pretty cool and I got sprayed right in the face with dino acid). We didn’t do the flyers as there was already a 45 minute wait and there was no wait for anything else. There was no express line for it either. People must wait for that for ages! Lee, Andrea and Titus did Dueling dragons while John, Max, Alex and I did the Unicorn roller coaster. It was pretty fun.

As we entered Seuss Island, we met the Grinch and ‘Sam I am’. We somehow got split up from Lee and Titus as we were going on the Carro-Seuss-sel. They ended up going on the Cat in the Hat. We didn’t find them so while we were waiting; Alex and Max did One Fish, Two Fish. They didn’t pay attention to the song and Max got soaked. Alex, being on the inside stayed pretty dry. Not sure who was driving. We saw Lee and Titus just before their ride was over. We then went to Cat in the Hat. Titus did it again but Lee sat out – couldn’t take the spinning again. The kids went back to see Thing 1 and Thing 2 and ‘the guy’ from Green Eggs and Ham. I loved Dr. Seuss when I was little so I enjoyed this Island

I may be out of order again or missed something but we headed back to SuperHero Island. Lee, Andrea and Titus rode the Hulk and really enjoyed that. After this we got some lunch at the Super Hero cafe. Over $30 even with Alex and me splitting the chicken salad – which was just a plain salad with the chicken fingers on top. There were no kid’s meals – so beware if you plan to eat here.

Lee and I then did Dr. Doomfall. While we were doing this, the kids got to spend lots of one on one time with SpiderMan. A hit with all of them. As we were getting out of Dr. Doomfall, we see SpiderMan go running across the street. Turns out he was going to get his ATV to do a Super Hero meet and greet. The kids got pictures and autographs with Rogue, Storm, Captain America and Wolverine. Wolverine seemed smaller than what I would have expected but Andrea said the guy is great in his role and has been doing it for years.

We then decided to head out to Universal. We got our pictures and forgot to use our discount – boo. The picture was really nice though – 19.95 for 2 5x7s – so we each got one. Overall I was impressed with the theming at this park – I had not expected it to be as nice. It was good – more edgy than Disney – for an older crowd I’d guess.

When we went into Universal we could see crowds were building a bit more than they had at IOA. We went right into the Shrek 4D Express Pass line and got in the next show. The pre-show was good – a little more risqué than Disney. The show was good as well although it was crowded and we didn’t get seats together and sort of ‘lost’ John. We joined back up afterwards.

We then headed over towards Fear Factor Live because Lee wanted to try out for the show. We still had a bit of time so we headed to Men in Black. This is John’s all time favourite ride and it was really fun. Lee had to bail before we got in because he wanted to be back to Fear Factor in time for the ‘auditions’. You had to be there 75 minutes before. Not terribly bad after all because we all then fit in one MIB car. I did pretty miserable, just barely beating Max and Alex. John had a great score but not as good as he has had better in the past. Andrea had a pretty good score but not as good as she had gotten before either.

When we came out Alex wasn’t feeling well so I went to get her a drink and the others went back on MIB. Alex and I headed down to see how Lee was doing.

Lee did the audition even trash talking as they said they were looking for personality. But unfortunately he didn’t get picked. They seemed to go for smaller guys – Lee, at 6’2” was at the top of their range although he was much lighter than their maximum weight of 225. They had to do a game of Simon Says. But who knows why he wasn’t picked, maybe he didn’t speak loud enough (they asked to say their name, where they were from and their biggest fear) or maybe they thought his fear was silly (moths – really!) Anyways, since Lee didn’t get picked and wasn’t interested in being a participant in a drinking or insect challenge (he doesn’t much like insects of any type); we found the others and did MIB again. It was fun again.

We then went to look for ice cream as it was very hot and humid. The soft serve place in Amityville which Andrea loves (and Andrea is not a big ice cream fan so it must be amazing) was closed. I saw a guy with Dippin’ Dots so I asked him where he got his. I had never tried them but I figured at least they would be cold! Dippin’ Dots are ice cream that is quick frozen at really low temperatures so it is these little balls. They were expensive but they are more filling than they look. It looks like you are getting a bowl of Styrofoam. I had strawberry, Titus vanilla, Alex chocolate and Lee had banana split. John and Max had chocolate mint and I don’t remember what Andrea had. Alex loved the dipping dots and keeps asking if we can get them here. I had never seen them before except on a show on the Food Network.

Max went to throw a dart at a carnival game and won a prize. That started Alex going but we wouldn’t let her get one right then. But then we couldn’t find Andrea and she was at one of those ‘guess your age’ places. She left Max with John. Everybody always thinks she is younger and often can’t believe she is a doctor. And they did guess wrong and she did win a prize. She gave it to Alex – thank you Andrea.

We saw the Fear Factor show. I liked it. I think Lee didn’t like it because he didn’t get picked but Andrea said it wasn’t as good as she was expecting either. I don’t know how the others felt. There were three main stunts for those who were chosen through the auditions. The first task was hanging up really high. Two were eliminated from that. Then a girl and boy were paired up and they each had to team up to do a task. I think it was throwing and catching octopus while hauled up in the air. Or was that the tie breaker. For the last task there were two left. They had to climb up a wall while water was being shot at them from water guns. They also had to climb out onto the hood of a car that was wet and grab some flags. It was a good race.

They also had some people do an eating challenge (bug milkshake) and an insect challenge (put your head in a cage and they drop bugs on your.

So if you want to audition and don’t like the bug parts, this is the place to do it as they are separate.

Alex got to do her dart game after that and won on her first dart. For some odd reason Alex is good at darts and always wins. They had let Max shoot till he won – he is such a cute boy.

After that we headed back and did Earthquake. This was ho-hum.

It had started to rain and it was almost 6 (when they closed for Horror Nights) so we headed out. We were all tired. We stopped at the Hard Rock Hotel and asked where the closest Olive Garden was (they don’t have Olive Garden in Canada anymore and that used to be Lee and my favourite so we had to go!)

We had a very nice dinner there. Very cheesy. I love the salad dressing and the bread is always fabulous.

We then headed out to the Best Western by the airport and Andrea and John headed back to the Hard Rock Hotel. They had originally been scheduled to head out Monday morning but with the hurricane looming, Jet Blue had allowed them to reschedule free of charge to Sunday afternoon. So they were going to leave the next morning. Our flight was EARLY the next morning (Sunday). So that is why we wanted to stay by the airport. Besides, I wanted to use my Best Western gift card.

The hotel was ok – nothing special at all. We wouldn’t even get the Continental Breakfast (which Suzy said was very good) because we had to leave too early. The desk clerk put us on the earliest shuttle at 5am for our 7am flight. Turns out we didn’t need to be there as early as I did the express check-in and we carried on all our luggage, but you never know. I have been caught before.

Anyways because of the way I booked the rental car, it was due back tonight. It had been much cheaper this way but now I was regretting it. The Best Western wasn’t really that close to the airport either. I was tired so I called to see how much to keep it another day – all told $46.95. It was $7 to take the shuttle when you are using it for other than getting to your flight so this was the better deal. So we left the kids in the room with the door bolted and headed out. We found the airport ok, but where you go into the airport was confusing and there was a fork in the road right where they show the A and B terminals. We thought we had to go right at the fork for B terminal where really you just had to stay to the right on the left fork. Anyways, we got a bit lost… We followed 2 other cars doing the exact same thing – we know because we followed them around and then back again so we weren’t the only stupid ones. The sign needs to be clearer.

We got there and the price still seemed odd to me so after we dropped off the car I went in and talked to the clerk and showed her my confirmation. She took the price down to what I had originally confirmed – YAY! So then we called the shuttle. And we waited and waited and waited. We were getting worried that we wouldn’t get back in our room because when our kids sleep they could sleep through anything and they wouldn’t hear us knocking and with the bolt on our key wouldn’t be any help (Titus did sleep through a minor earthquake one time).

We finally got on a very packed shuttle and made it back. We didn’t tip on top of the $7.

Titus had made himself stay awake thankfully, so we got in ok. We all crashed.

DAY 9 – SUNDAY
4:15am came way, way, way too early. We checked out. My $50 gift card came out to around $42 American so I left the rest on the credit card. We had to consolidate our change to get enough to tip the shuttle driver. You can tell it’s near the end of vacation.

The ride to the airport was uneventful and we didn’t have to worry about getting lost. That was very nice. There was no line and I used the kiosk check in easily and we were checked in, in no time. We headed through security – again no line. So here we are over an hour and a half early for our flight. We trek with all our stuff – remember we didn’t check anything – down to Cinnabon for some breakfast. 4 cinnamon rolls, 2 apple juices, a milk and a coffee and probably $30 later we found some seats to eat. They were good cinnamon rolls just a little over the board on the filling.

We headed back to our gate and sat to wait. Not as exciting as going.

We got on our plane for Atlanta. We all slept – none of us even remember the flight attendant coming around with drinks. In Atlanta we had a stopover but it wasn’t that terrible and we were off to Buffalo. We couldn’t sleep this time, so we just read or whatever.

In Buffalo we came off the plane and somehow missed Lee’s uncle. We must have walked right past him and went downstairs to the luggage pickup because we thought he might not have known that we were not checking luggage. Lee went back up to look for him and found him in no time. We drove him back to his place but we didn’t stop in this time as we were tired and Titus had a hockey game that evening so we set off.

We made it back to the Peace bridge and through the border with no problems. We drove home with no incidents. We threw our stuff into the house and collapsed. Now we need a vacation! Seriously, Titus had a nap because he was feeling rather car sick that I think had more to do with tiredness. He didn’t feel great but still went to his game because they were already short players (they lost). We went to bed early that night and to work and school the next morning.

OVERVIEW

I felt a bit down coming home. I was worried about some things and worried about money – having my credit card declined did not ease that fear. I was sure I had enough room on it and was worried that somehow someone had done some other charges. I would love to be able to do a Disney vacation without worrying about money. I think we stuck to our budget but it really wasn’t in our regular budget to do a vacation at all with buying a house and everything. I don’t think we’ll be going back for quite awhile but next time we do it will be with a rest day in between each park day and we will do a better job of saving before we go.

We loved:
Having a car – freedom
Old Key West – it is so beautiful
Hallowe’en party
Late extra magic hours – we are not early risers!
The shark reef
Adventurer’s club

Other Good things:
Shopping – they just don’t have sales here like they do there
Islands of Adventure – surprisingly more themed than I thought

Things we didn’t like:
Passing around viruses – why is it, someone always has to be sick around vacations? Seemed like the week before we left everyone we met had something.
Not having enough money to do what everything we would have liked.

Things we’d like to do next time:
Take more time to relax and experience OKW and more swimming pools
Hallowe’en Horror Nights at Universal
See the rest of Universal
Try more sit down restaurants – but we’ll need a lot more money for that!
Lee and Titus really would like to try surfing at TL but the price seemed steep
Check out what is open for extra magic hours and plan the days in the park around what isn’t open in the EMH (or Hallowe’en party).

We didn’t mind missing things and enjoyed the laid back path we took. We did the ‘must sees’ and anything else was gravy. We didn’t spend all the time possible in the parks but we felt that we enjoyed it more because we took time out in the middle of the day. Well worth it.

Michelle Kosloff