FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Mayor’s Office
Monday November 9, 2009 (203) 468-3204
Outgoing Board of Education holds Special Meeting
East Haven, CT – The current Board of Education will hold its last meeting this evening at the East Haven High School beginning at 7 pm. Tonight’s Special Meeting, which could prove to be extremely contentious, includes the following agenda items that were tabled on October 27, 2009 when the members of the current BOE last met:
1. Discussion and Possible Action of Central Office Reorganization Plan
2. Discussion and Possible Action to Appoint Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum and Instruction
3. Discussion and Possible Action on Assistant Superintendent’s Contract
4. Discussion and Possible Action on Superintendent’s Contract
Although the Superintendent’s and Assistant Superintendent’s Contracts are extended through August 31, 2011 and June 30, 2011 respectively, there is an open issue pertaining to their annual pay increases.
Mayor April Capone Almon and the newly-elected BOE members will be waiting to see if the current BOE members approve a pay increase for Superintendent Anthony Serio and Assistant Superintendent Frank Meoli for the current 2009-2010 fiscal year. Earlier this year Mayor April Capone Almon announced that neither she nor her staff would be receiving an annual pay increase. During that same period the Mayor also negotiated pay freezes, or the equivalent in other concessions with each of the Town’s six unions. To date, none of the Town’s Board of Education union or non-union employees has done the same, including Mr. Serio and Mr. Meoli.
In addition to calling into question the possible pay raises, Mayor April Capone Almon and the newly-elected BOE members have also expressed a concern about moving forward and approving a proposed Central Office Reorganization Plan that includes the appointment of an additional Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum and Instruction without their review and input. Several concerns have been raised regarding how the plan will affect the Board of Education’s current budget, as well as future budgets. These questions are not only being raised by the Mayor and the newly-elected BOE members, but were also asked by many of the current BOE members at its last meeting on October 27th.
“With all these unanswered questions still out there, the current Board of Education needs to table these agenda items until such time the newly-elected members of the Board of Education have an opportunity to review each one of them and provide their input.”, said Mayor April Capone Almon. “To do anything less would be disparaging to the residents who voted for a change on the Board of Education.”
The newly elected members of the Board of Education take office effective November 14, 2009.
Monday, November 9, 2009
Interesting email regarding East Haven's BOE
From: KAREN SELIGA
Subject: Special BOE Meeting 11/9/09
To: "Ron Denuzzo", "John Finkle" , "Frank Hammell" , "Tom Hennessey" , "Kristen Vineyard" , "Marilyn Vitale" , avarose25253131@sbcglobal.net
Cc: "Tony Serio"
Date: Monday, November 9, 2009, 1:43 PM
- please forward this message to those members of the BOE who do not have e-mail addresses listed -
I just became aware that the Board of Education meeting scheduled for Tuesday, November 10th has been cancelled and that there will be a “special” Board of Education meeting this evening.
On the agenda for this evening’s meeting is the discussion and possible action of the Central Office reorganization, discussion and possible action to appoint an Assistant Superintendent, discussion and possible action on Assistant Superintendent’s contract as well as discussion and possible action on the Superintendent’s contract. It is noted that some of these items are to be discussed in Executive Session.
I respectfully ask that each of you give all of these items serious consideration and ask that you table them until a later date.
I think making these decisions right now would be fiscally irresponsible. I don’t know how you are able to justify creating this position when there are still teachers and programs that were cut and have not yet been brought back. If there is money in the budget for this position – then use that money for the good of the students. Buy books; put programs back in place, etc... If memory serves me correctly, it was stated at the last meeting that the creation of the position of Assistant Superintendent would “lighten the load” for our current Superintendent. Times are tough, I would venture to guess that every person who is employed in the United States has been asked to do more with less; and I am one of those people. My suggestion to the Superintendent would be that if he can’t handle doing more with less, then maybe it’s time for him to move on.
It is clear that by cancelling tomorrow’s meeting and having tonight’s “special” meeting, that you do not want the public’s input. It also looks like you are all trying to pull a fast one and are trying to “stick it ” to the Town of East Haven and it’s taxpayers because some of you were not re-elected to the Board of Education. There are also numerous rumors around town that the person who is in line for this new position has a father who was very generous to John Finkle’s mayoral campaign and that is another reason why you are all rushing to get this done before the new Board takes it’s place.
Your legacy when your tenure on the Board of Education ends should be that you truly put the children of East Haven first and that you fought the good fight for them. If you approve the items on tonight’s agenda, your legacy will be that you never had the best interest of our children at heart, your interests were in only things that benefited you or your political party and that the only thing that you have accomplished is making fools of yourselves and the Town of East Haven.
Please think long and hard before rushing to make decisions that will ultimately have a negative impact on our children.
Stan & Karen Seliga
Subject: Special BOE Meeting 11/9/09
To: "Ron Denuzzo"
Cc: "Tony Serio"
Date: Monday, November 9, 2009, 1:43 PM
- please forward this message to those members of the BOE who do not have e-mail addresses listed -
I just became aware that the Board of Education meeting scheduled for Tuesday, November 10th has been cancelled and that there will be a “special” Board of Education meeting this evening.
On the agenda for this evening’s meeting is the discussion and possible action of the Central Office reorganization, discussion and possible action to appoint an Assistant Superintendent, discussion and possible action on Assistant Superintendent’s contract as well as discussion and possible action on the Superintendent’s contract. It is noted that some of these items are to be discussed in Executive Session.
I respectfully ask that each of you give all of these items serious consideration and ask that you table them until a later date.
I think making these decisions right now would be fiscally irresponsible. I don’t know how you are able to justify creating this position when there are still teachers and programs that were cut and have not yet been brought back. If there is money in the budget for this position – then use that money for the good of the students. Buy books; put programs back in place, etc... If memory serves me correctly, it was stated at the last meeting that the creation of the position of Assistant Superintendent would “lighten the load” for our current Superintendent. Times are tough, I would venture to guess that every person who is employed in the United States has been asked to do more with less; and I am one of those people. My suggestion to the Superintendent would be that if he can’t handle doing more with less, then maybe it’s time for him to move on.
It is clear that by cancelling tomorrow’s meeting and having tonight’s “special” meeting, that you do not want the public’s input. It also looks like you are all trying to pull a fast one and are trying to “stick it ” to the Town of East Haven and it’s taxpayers because some of you were not re-elected to the Board of Education. There are also numerous rumors around town that the person who is in line for this new position has a father who was very generous to John Finkle’s mayoral campaign and that is another reason why you are all rushing to get this done before the new Board takes it’s place.
Your legacy when your tenure on the Board of Education ends should be that you truly put the children of East Haven first and that you fought the good fight for them. If you approve the items on tonight’s agenda, your legacy will be that you never had the best interest of our children at heart, your interests were in only things that benefited you or your political party and that the only thing that you have accomplished is making fools of yourselves and the Town of East Haven.
Please think long and hard before rushing to make decisions that will ultimately have a negative impact on our children.
Stan & Karen Seliga
Sunday, October 4, 2009
The Week in Orlando
Sandy and Darlene spent four days with us in the condo. The heat and humidity stayed pretty constant the week we were in Orlando. While I've been to Orlando many many times in August, this trip the heat was a deciding factor on how we toured the parks.
We visited Animal Kingdom Park and took advantage of the fastpass kiosk located near the Tree of Life. We got to the kiosk and stopped with a few other guests while the masses dashed off to one of the big attractions: Everest, Safari or Kali River Rapids.
We each obtained fastpasses for the major attractions within five minutes. This fastpass kiosk is in the experimental phase. I can't imagine how well it would have worked if people realized what those kiosks were there for. It appeared to be a kiosk for Bug's Life. We went to Kali River Rapids first and rode on it a few times. Fastpasses are typically not necessary for this attraction if you ride it first thing in the morning. Thoroughly soaked, we headed over to Dinosaur.
This was a pretty smart move because Dinosaur is mostly an inside experience. I got pretty cold in my wet clothes during the Dinosaur Experience. By the time we left the ride, I was able to enjoy the walk while thawing out. We went over to the Nemo experience. This show replaced one our favorite shows: Tarzan Rocks. The show was entertaining but I did not love it the way I loved Tarzan. Once is enough for me, I don't think I'd have to see the show again.
After Nemo, Darlene and I waited while the girls went on Mount Everest twice. They loved it! We wandered around, grabbed a snack and went on the Safari ride. Afer the Safari, we were pretty hot and tired and made the decision not to eat inside of the park. We walked the long, hot walk back to the car and used the GPS to find somewhere to eat. We chose Cracker Barrel and spent the rest of the afternoon there, playing checkers and having lunch.
Each evening contained some swim time for the girls. Typically on our trips, we would head out to a different park to enjoy the evening festivities but the heat really did a number on our energy levels. I'd chalk it up to old age, but the kids seemed affected as well.
We had not visited the Magic Kingdom before the cruise, and we were all excited to hit Main Street. I listened for the familiar music at the entrance to Main Street and hummed along. We caught the trolley musical morning show and watched it for awhile. I love that show, all of the cast members are dressed up in period garb complete with parasols and ride the trolley down Main Street, stopping in the middle for a song and dance.
We headed over to the Mountains and did both rides twice before heading out to the rest of the park. Space Mountain was closed for refurbishment. The girls were disappointed but we knew it would be closed ahead of time.
We went over to the rose garden and tried to find the spot where the ashes of a dear friend were lovingly spread. We spent a few minutes in the rose garden, talking about and remembering Amanda.
We spent quite a while waiting for the Monsters Laugh Floor and it sort of zapped us of our energy. We called it a day, after going to infinity and beyond. Of course, for us, calling it a day means spending an hour or so shopping on the way out of the park. The clouds were black, and a storm was heading in. We made it back to the condo in time to see a tremendous lightening storm.
Our MGM day was another hot day. We arrived at opening and we funneled up the street, waiting for the rope drop. We followed the crowds over to Toy Story Mania. In this park, unless you split up, you pretty much have to choose between Toy Story Mania, or Rock n Rollercoaster to ride without fastpasses.
We watched families split up and send some into the standby line and others get a fastpass. The fastpass line for Toy Story Mania seemed longer than the standby line, from the outside. We enjoyed walking through the attraction, checking out Mr. Potato Head and such. Darlene said they don't often go to the park, so most of it was a new experience for her. I tried to be nonchalant, but I think I kept saying, "You are DVC owners and you don't come to this park?" Yeah, I was real subtle.
I discovered on my last work trip that MGM is a great park to get done in one day. The attractions are close together, there is a lot of shade, and lots of opportunities for resting and rejuvenating. While other parks have long waits for short attractions, MGM can be the opposite. We went to get fastpasses for the girls at Rock n Rollercoaster, and they rode it a total of 3 times. They got to experience it from the front, back and middle and liked the front best.
While the girls were on the ride, Darlene and me went over to Star Tours. She said she had never been on it before. NEVER? I couldn't believe it! We went on Star Tours and enjoyed it. This attraction makes me motion sick at the same spot each time. There must be something off with the timing of the film and soundtrack. I feel the same way at Muppets 3D.
The girls called us and we met up with them and did the Great Movie Ride. I do love this attraction. We had lunch at the Backlot and people watched. We caught a pretty good street show by the Sanitation Department. Our timing was perfect.
Darlene and Sandy had a flight home on Wednesday early afternoon. I had planned on going to a park after dropping them off at the airport. I thought this might mean we'd make some evening shows at one of the parks. We slept in a bit, maybe by an hour, and had a leisurely breakfast. We fed the ducks outside and had a last swim.
It was a quiet ride to the airport. The girls had mixed emotions, having hit their saturation point of togetherness mixed with the sorrows of goodbyes. After dropping them off at the airport, we headed to the Magic Kingdom. We caught a bit of the afternoon parade, split a Dole Whip, and rode Splash Mountain a few more times. We had dinner at Sweet Tomatoes down the road from the condo. The food isn't fabulous, but it's a nice change from burger counter service. I wished we had thought to go there with Darlene and Sandy, they probably would have liked it.
Victoria's choice, we went to Animal Kingdom again on Thursday. We spent the morning riding Kali River Rapids, remembering this trip and many others where we got to know people while riding the rapids. We did the Safari and walked along the Jungle Trek. Because we did not see the Lion King on our last visit, we made a point to see is on this visit. It is still as fabulous as ever.
We agreed to leave the park at around 2pm and take a nap. I planned on doing some packing to make it easier in the evening. We headed out to Downtown Disney in the evening and did some shopping. We were surprised we didn't really find anything we 'must' have. We split a sandwich from Earl of Sandwich, watched a show on stage, and headed back to the condo at 8pm.
Friday was our last day in Orlando. Our flight was at 5pm, allowing some time to tour a park in the morning. We arrived at Epcot at 8:30am. We followed some folks through a gate and got hunted down by a security guard stating we had to walk around the fence to get our bags checked. I'm not sure how my parking pass, diamond parking, was any advantage over other parking if I had to walk all the way around. We stood in line, everyone sweating profusely before 9am. At 8:50am, we entered the gates and the entire mob headed over to the LAND to Soarin' Over California. There was a rope there and we waited again until 9am, where several cast members walked us to the Land.
We road Soarin' in row 1! YAY for us, row 1! Our last experience was row 3, where you can see feet above you during the attraction. Victoria wanted to do Test Track and we rode the single riders line three times. We got in line to do Spaceship Earth because Victoria had not been on it since it was refurbished. As we walked into line, a boy about Victoria's age dashed in front of us. Pretty rude. I thought it was strange he would ride this by himself.
In a minute, a woman with a baby joined him. Victoria gave me a look and I told her to let it go since the mother might have been tending to the baby. Then a grandmother and a child joined them. Then a father and another child joined them, all within a 5 minute time span. I said, "you've got to be kidding me." They all knew what I was talking about and said they are a family and wanted to ride together. I told them it was rude to cut in front of people and not enter the ride as a family, because they were being rude to all of the families behind us. The rotten little boy made comments the entire time we were in line. What a rude little shit that boy was. I let him go on and on, and did take some comfort knowing the family was humiliated by his behavior. The mother's neck and cheeks were red and she tried to get her son to be quiet. Had I continued to engage, all I would have accomplished was that I'd be in argument with a child. The parents tried to get the son to stop and eventually yelled at him, making a scene to get him to stop. What did they expect, sending him to stand in line, knowing people would be upset? I kept thinking, karma.
We left Epcot at noon and tried to motivate each other about not being sad our vacation was coming to an end. We were sad. We had no immediate plans to return to Disney World but we knew we were lucky to have been often this year. We got back to the condo, took showers and finished packing. Victoria took a nap and I read my book, soaking in every last minute of vacation. I was glad we decided to finish the vacation this way, rather than going to the airport from the park.
We dropped the car off and grabbed a luggage cart. We found our way to the Southwest luggage counter and checked our bags. We got through the security and to the gate when we learned our flight was delayed by an hour. We decided to eat dinner at the airport to kill some time. I texted Darlene to let her know we had not been able to find Sandy's DVD or locket. We had checked and checked and checked. I do not think it was in either condo. Before checking out, we checked the lost and found and the housekeeping service at the building where we initially checked in.
Our flight was an easy one and we spent longer than usual waiting for our luggage. We got back to Park Ride and Fly and got home at 10:30pm. We dragged in the luggage and hit the hay.
We visited Animal Kingdom Park and took advantage of the fastpass kiosk located near the Tree of Life. We got to the kiosk and stopped with a few other guests while the masses dashed off to one of the big attractions: Everest, Safari or Kali River Rapids.
We each obtained fastpasses for the major attractions within five minutes. This fastpass kiosk is in the experimental phase. I can't imagine how well it would have worked if people realized what those kiosks were there for. It appeared to be a kiosk for Bug's Life. We went to Kali River Rapids first and rode on it a few times. Fastpasses are typically not necessary for this attraction if you ride it first thing in the morning. Thoroughly soaked, we headed over to Dinosaur.
This was a pretty smart move because Dinosaur is mostly an inside experience. I got pretty cold in my wet clothes during the Dinosaur Experience. By the time we left the ride, I was able to enjoy the walk while thawing out. We went over to the Nemo experience. This show replaced one our favorite shows: Tarzan Rocks. The show was entertaining but I did not love it the way I loved Tarzan. Once is enough for me, I don't think I'd have to see the show again.
After Nemo, Darlene and I waited while the girls went on Mount Everest twice. They loved it! We wandered around, grabbed a snack and went on the Safari ride. Afer the Safari, we were pretty hot and tired and made the decision not to eat inside of the park. We walked the long, hot walk back to the car and used the GPS to find somewhere to eat. We chose Cracker Barrel and spent the rest of the afternoon there, playing checkers and having lunch.
Each evening contained some swim time for the girls. Typically on our trips, we would head out to a different park to enjoy the evening festivities but the heat really did a number on our energy levels. I'd chalk it up to old age, but the kids seemed affected as well.
We had not visited the Magic Kingdom before the cruise, and we were all excited to hit Main Street. I listened for the familiar music at the entrance to Main Street and hummed along. We caught the trolley musical morning show and watched it for awhile. I love that show, all of the cast members are dressed up in period garb complete with parasols and ride the trolley down Main Street, stopping in the middle for a song and dance.
We headed over to the Mountains and did both rides twice before heading out to the rest of the park. Space Mountain was closed for refurbishment. The girls were disappointed but we knew it would be closed ahead of time.
We went over to the rose garden and tried to find the spot where the ashes of a dear friend were lovingly spread. We spent a few minutes in the rose garden, talking about and remembering Amanda.
We spent quite a while waiting for the Monsters Laugh Floor and it sort of zapped us of our energy. We called it a day, after going to infinity and beyond. Of course, for us, calling it a day means spending an hour or so shopping on the way out of the park. The clouds were black, and a storm was heading in. We made it back to the condo in time to see a tremendous lightening storm.
Our MGM day was another hot day. We arrived at opening and we funneled up the street, waiting for the rope drop. We followed the crowds over to Toy Story Mania. In this park, unless you split up, you pretty much have to choose between Toy Story Mania, or Rock n Rollercoaster to ride without fastpasses.
We watched families split up and send some into the standby line and others get a fastpass. The fastpass line for Toy Story Mania seemed longer than the standby line, from the outside. We enjoyed walking through the attraction, checking out Mr. Potato Head and such. Darlene said they don't often go to the park, so most of it was a new experience for her. I tried to be nonchalant, but I think I kept saying, "You are DVC owners and you don't come to this park?" Yeah, I was real subtle.
I discovered on my last work trip that MGM is a great park to get done in one day. The attractions are close together, there is a lot of shade, and lots of opportunities for resting and rejuvenating. While other parks have long waits for short attractions, MGM can be the opposite. We went to get fastpasses for the girls at Rock n Rollercoaster, and they rode it a total of 3 times. They got to experience it from the front, back and middle and liked the front best.
While the girls were on the ride, Darlene and me went over to Star Tours. She said she had never been on it before. NEVER? I couldn't believe it! We went on Star Tours and enjoyed it. This attraction makes me motion sick at the same spot each time. There must be something off with the timing of the film and soundtrack. I feel the same way at Muppets 3D.
The girls called us and we met up with them and did the Great Movie Ride. I do love this attraction. We had lunch at the Backlot and people watched. We caught a pretty good street show by the Sanitation Department. Our timing was perfect.
Darlene and Sandy had a flight home on Wednesday early afternoon. I had planned on going to a park after dropping them off at the airport. I thought this might mean we'd make some evening shows at one of the parks. We slept in a bit, maybe by an hour, and had a leisurely breakfast. We fed the ducks outside and had a last swim.
It was a quiet ride to the airport. The girls had mixed emotions, having hit their saturation point of togetherness mixed with the sorrows of goodbyes. After dropping them off at the airport, we headed to the Magic Kingdom. We caught a bit of the afternoon parade, split a Dole Whip, and rode Splash Mountain a few more times. We had dinner at Sweet Tomatoes down the road from the condo. The food isn't fabulous, but it's a nice change from burger counter service. I wished we had thought to go there with Darlene and Sandy, they probably would have liked it.
Victoria's choice, we went to Animal Kingdom again on Thursday. We spent the morning riding Kali River Rapids, remembering this trip and many others where we got to know people while riding the rapids. We did the Safari and walked along the Jungle Trek. Because we did not see the Lion King on our last visit, we made a point to see is on this visit. It is still as fabulous as ever.
We agreed to leave the park at around 2pm and take a nap. I planned on doing some packing to make it easier in the evening. We headed out to Downtown Disney in the evening and did some shopping. We were surprised we didn't really find anything we 'must' have. We split a sandwich from Earl of Sandwich, watched a show on stage, and headed back to the condo at 8pm.
Friday was our last day in Orlando. Our flight was at 5pm, allowing some time to tour a park in the morning. We arrived at Epcot at 8:30am. We followed some folks through a gate and got hunted down by a security guard stating we had to walk around the fence to get our bags checked. I'm not sure how my parking pass, diamond parking, was any advantage over other parking if I had to walk all the way around. We stood in line, everyone sweating profusely before 9am. At 8:50am, we entered the gates and the entire mob headed over to the LAND to Soarin' Over California. There was a rope there and we waited again until 9am, where several cast members walked us to the Land.
We road Soarin' in row 1! YAY for us, row 1! Our last experience was row 3, where you can see feet above you during the attraction. Victoria wanted to do Test Track and we rode the single riders line three times. We got in line to do Spaceship Earth because Victoria had not been on it since it was refurbished. As we walked into line, a boy about Victoria's age dashed in front of us. Pretty rude. I thought it was strange he would ride this by himself.
In a minute, a woman with a baby joined him. Victoria gave me a look and I told her to let it go since the mother might have been tending to the baby. Then a grandmother and a child joined them. Then a father and another child joined them, all within a 5 minute time span. I said, "you've got to be kidding me." They all knew what I was talking about and said they are a family and wanted to ride together. I told them it was rude to cut in front of people and not enter the ride as a family, because they were being rude to all of the families behind us. The rotten little boy made comments the entire time we were in line. What a rude little shit that boy was. I let him go on and on, and did take some comfort knowing the family was humiliated by his behavior. The mother's neck and cheeks were red and she tried to get her son to be quiet. Had I continued to engage, all I would have accomplished was that I'd be in argument with a child. The parents tried to get the son to stop and eventually yelled at him, making a scene to get him to stop. What did they expect, sending him to stand in line, knowing people would be upset? I kept thinking, karma.
We left Epcot at noon and tried to motivate each other about not being sad our vacation was coming to an end. We were sad. We had no immediate plans to return to Disney World but we knew we were lucky to have been often this year. We got back to the condo, took showers and finished packing. Victoria took a nap and I read my book, soaking in every last minute of vacation. I was glad we decided to finish the vacation this way, rather than going to the airport from the park.
We dropped the car off and grabbed a luggage cart. We found our way to the Southwest luggage counter and checked our bags. We got through the security and to the gate when we learned our flight was delayed by an hour. We decided to eat dinner at the airport to kill some time. I texted Darlene to let her know we had not been able to find Sandy's DVD or locket. We had checked and checked and checked. I do not think it was in either condo. Before checking out, we checked the lost and found and the housekeeping service at the building where we initially checked in.
Our flight was an easy one and we spent longer than usual waiting for our luggage. We got back to Park Ride and Fly and got home at 10:30pm. We dragged in the luggage and hit the hay.
Monday, September 21, 2009
Movin' on Up .. or over
After doing a full grocery shop, we hurried back to the condo, aware anything which could melt, would melt, in the trunk of the car. We grabbed a luggage cart and hauled the bags up to the condo. I put all of the food away.
Let me repeat: I put all of the food away. I made a pot of coffee and was ready to chill and read my book.
The phone rang.
It was the front office. The woman was talking and talking and talking. All I heard was, "You'll have to move to another unit."
I kept saying, "but I did my grocery shopping."
There was no hot water. There would be no hot water until Tuesday. I kept the phone to my ear and I was thinking, 'who needs hot water, it's hot as hell outside.'
It's like she heard my thoughts. "Ma'am you can't live there without hot water until Tuesday."
Why not? I did grocery shopping. I put all of the clothes away.
I asked if the unit was better than I had now and she said she had two available. I left Victoria napping, and went over to the office and they showed me the two units. I took the unit with the better balcony and view. I went back to the condo and packed up.
Packed up the groceries too. Packed up the clothes. I knew it was too good to be true, to have our unit ready in the morning. I just knew it. I spent the next few days running back and forth to buildings, looking for items we had left behind. What a complete nightmare that was, unpacking twice. I don't recommend it.
Let me repeat: I put all of the food away. I made a pot of coffee and was ready to chill and read my book.
The phone rang.
It was the front office. The woman was talking and talking and talking. All I heard was, "You'll have to move to another unit."
I kept saying, "but I did my grocery shopping."
There was no hot water. There would be no hot water until Tuesday. I kept the phone to my ear and I was thinking, 'who needs hot water, it's hot as hell outside.'
It's like she heard my thoughts. "Ma'am you can't live there without hot water until Tuesday."
Why not? I did grocery shopping. I put all of the clothes away.
I asked if the unit was better than I had now and she said she had two available. I left Victoria napping, and went over to the office and they showed me the two units. I took the unit with the better balcony and view. I went back to the condo and packed up.
Packed up the groceries too. Packed up the clothes. I knew it was too good to be true, to have our unit ready in the morning. I just knew it. I spent the next few days running back and forth to buildings, looking for items we had left behind. What a complete nightmare that was, unpacking twice. I don't recommend it.
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Review of Grand Beach I
I traded one of my timeshare weeks for the Grand Beach I in Lake Buena Vista near Disney. I reserved it a year ahead of time to spend the week after our cruise there. It was a great option for space and location.
Setting
The buildings are white with red roofs. It's not very visible from the road but most of the property has some view of a large lake called Lake Bryan. The landscaping is typical Florida landscaping, and the there is a gazebo/dock to fish or just hang around.
There are two pools, though it appears the oasis pool is rarely used. The pool situation outside of the lobby area is the one open morning through evening. There are activities scheduled throughout the day though I don't know why. Most people seemed to use the units as a launching spot to the Orlando attractions.
There is a small store off of the registration desk which can offer you milk/bread/eggs but not anywhere you'd want to do a full shop.
Parking looks difficult but it was nice to have parking under the building because it meant your car did not sit outside in the sun all day. There were never many spots open.
There are elevators on the outside of the building to get up to the floors. I think there are 6 units on each floor. You needed your key to access the door to get into the floor of your building. Your key would not work to get into your building on another floor.
Location
The location is excellent, it's between the Crossroads and the Lake Buena Vista outlet on 535. To get to Disney or anywhere, you can completely avoid 192. Going to the parks only requires a turn down World Drive and follow the signs. The entrance to I4 is just down the street, should you desire to visit any of the other Orlando parks.
Units
Most of the units are three bedrooms. I did read they have one bedroom units but I'm not sure where those are located. Each three bedroom unit has two identical master bedrooms with shower stall, whirlpool tub and sink within the bedroom. There is also a bedroom with two twin beds with a bathroom across the hall from it. The kitchen/dining/living room is very large and has seating for five people in the living area, and six people at the large dining table. There is also a screen porch off the living room with french doors, giving the space lots of light. It was really too hot to enjoy the porch much but it was pretty. There were five ceiling fans in the units, one in each bedroom, one in the living area and one on the porch.
Setting
The buildings are white with red roofs. It's not very visible from the road but most of the property has some view of a large lake called Lake Bryan. The landscaping is typical Florida landscaping, and the there is a gazebo/dock to fish or just hang around.
There are two pools, though it appears the oasis pool is rarely used. The pool situation outside of the lobby area is the one open morning through evening. There are activities scheduled throughout the day though I don't know why. Most people seemed to use the units as a launching spot to the Orlando attractions.
There is a small store off of the registration desk which can offer you milk/bread/eggs but not anywhere you'd want to do a full shop.
Parking looks difficult but it was nice to have parking under the building because it meant your car did not sit outside in the sun all day. There were never many spots open.
There are elevators on the outside of the building to get up to the floors. I think there are 6 units on each floor. You needed your key to access the door to get into the floor of your building. Your key would not work to get into your building on another floor.
Location
The location is excellent, it's between the Crossroads and the Lake Buena Vista outlet on 535. To get to Disney or anywhere, you can completely avoid 192. Going to the parks only requires a turn down World Drive and follow the signs. The entrance to I4 is just down the street, should you desire to visit any of the other Orlando parks.
Units
Most of the units are three bedrooms. I did read they have one bedroom units but I'm not sure where those are located. Each three bedroom unit has two identical master bedrooms with shower stall, whirlpool tub and sink within the bedroom. There is also a bedroom with two twin beds with a bathroom across the hall from it. The kitchen/dining/living room is very large and has seating for five people in the living area, and six people at the large dining table. There is also a screen porch off the living room with french doors, giving the space lots of light. It was really too hot to enjoy the porch much but it was pretty. There were five ceiling fans in the units, one in each bedroom, one in the living area and one on the porch.
Debarkation
I was awake before the Mickey wake up call. This was a fast cruise, and a different one that I had imagined. Having four port days really accentuated the hot summer weather and we spent less time enjoying the sea breeze.
I finished getting everything together. Rather than drag our stuff up to the dining room, we opted to leave our room at 7:00am and went up to deck 9 for breakfast. There was a breakfast buffet and we sat on a very empty deck 9 eating breakfast. It was very leisurely and away from the hustle and bustle of the last minute activity on deck 3.
After breakfast, I sat a bit and read my book while Victoria watched cartoons on the Dumbotron. At 8am she was falling asleep so we headed down to deck 3 where we shuffled off the ship. We passed Lynn who yelled goodbye and we waved. I hate goodbyes. I really did enjoy the quiet of deck 9 for the last morning. As long as you don't have to rush off the ship, why not be leisurely.
We went down the ramp and grabbed a porter. He collected our luggage and we went outside to an area close to the exit, the same spot we dropped folks off in. This seemed a lot closer than previous times, where we walked into the parking lot to a covered tent area. We tipped our porter and a Budget Rental Shuttle arrived quickly. We tossed our luggage into the vehicle and were at the rental office by 8:30am. The driver of the shuttle seemed surprised to receive a tip. He handled all of our luggage and out of four families we were the only ones to tip. And we had the fewest amount of bags! C'mon people, whoever handles your luggage should be tipped!
Except in hotels where they pull a fast one on you now. Remember when you drove up to the hotel and someone took your luggage, waited while you checked in, and helped you upstairs? When did it turn into double tipping? Nowadays it seems there is one person to remove the luggage from your vehicle and another who brings it up to your room. Hmmmph!
Anyway, the rental office was pretty empty, which was exactly what we were hoping for by getting off the ship leisurely. We were on the road at 8:30am, relaxed and feeling good about having another week in Florida. The ride is pretty boring and pretty straight.
We discussed things we could do, and ended up in a shopping area at 9:30am. The stores were not open until 10am, so we drove down the street to check out our condo. Darlene, Stan and Sandy were dropping Lynn and Mary off at the airport and would meet us later. We pulled into the Grand Beach I timeshare on 535 and were impressed with the buildings and set up. We walked around the area, while we waited for the front desk to clear out. People were checking out at 10am.
Just for kicks, I checked if our unit might be ready, though I did not think it was likely. Low and behold it was ready! We were excited! We went up to our unit and called Darlene to tell her we could check in. We unpacked and waited for Darlene and family to arrive at around 11am. They had plans to meet Darlene's son and family at Downtown Disney. We compiled a grocery list and agreed to meet up later.
I finished getting everything together. Rather than drag our stuff up to the dining room, we opted to leave our room at 7:00am and went up to deck 9 for breakfast. There was a breakfast buffet and we sat on a very empty deck 9 eating breakfast. It was very leisurely and away from the hustle and bustle of the last minute activity on deck 3.
After breakfast, I sat a bit and read my book while Victoria watched cartoons on the Dumbotron. At 8am she was falling asleep so we headed down to deck 3 where we shuffled off the ship. We passed Lynn who yelled goodbye and we waved. I hate goodbyes. I really did enjoy the quiet of deck 9 for the last morning. As long as you don't have to rush off the ship, why not be leisurely.
We went down the ramp and grabbed a porter. He collected our luggage and we went outside to an area close to the exit, the same spot we dropped folks off in. This seemed a lot closer than previous times, where we walked into the parking lot to a covered tent area. We tipped our porter and a Budget Rental Shuttle arrived quickly. We tossed our luggage into the vehicle and were at the rental office by 8:30am. The driver of the shuttle seemed surprised to receive a tip. He handled all of our luggage and out of four families we were the only ones to tip. And we had the fewest amount of bags! C'mon people, whoever handles your luggage should be tipped!
Except in hotels where they pull a fast one on you now. Remember when you drove up to the hotel and someone took your luggage, waited while you checked in, and helped you upstairs? When did it turn into double tipping? Nowadays it seems there is one person to remove the luggage from your vehicle and another who brings it up to your room. Hmmmph!
Anyway, the rental office was pretty empty, which was exactly what we were hoping for by getting off the ship leisurely. We were on the road at 8:30am, relaxed and feeling good about having another week in Florida. The ride is pretty boring and pretty straight.
We discussed things we could do, and ended up in a shopping area at 9:30am. The stores were not open until 10am, so we drove down the street to check out our condo. Darlene, Stan and Sandy were dropping Lynn and Mary off at the airport and would meet us later. We pulled into the Grand Beach I timeshare on 535 and were impressed with the buildings and set up. We walked around the area, while we waited for the front desk to clear out. People were checking out at 10am.
Just for kicks, I checked if our unit might be ready, though I did not think it was likely. Low and behold it was ready! We were excited! We went up to our unit and called Darlene to tell her we could check in. We unpacked and waited for Darlene and family to arrive at around 11am. They had plans to meet Darlene's son and family at Downtown Disney. We compiled a grocery list and agreed to meet up later.
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Castaway Cay (Again)
We slept in a bit after moving the clocks forward. We got up at 8am and had breakfast by 9am. We took the snorkel equipment with us and Victoria spent about a half an hour snorkeling around. She stayed very close to the edge and said she did not see any fish. I told her she had to go out a bit to see some. She went about 200 feet out and I spotted her splashing around and making a serious swim towards shore. She had insisted on keeping on jewelry and she said the school of fish was attacking her anklet. Satisfied she had seen fish, we walked over to the spot where we found Darlene and Sandy already there. Erica and Benita set up their chairs and headed over to the snorkel area to enjoy. Lynn and Sandy joined us later.
We had lunch at headed back to the ship pretty early, about 1pm. We took the tram back and we showered and began the task of packing. I wasn't feeling my usual blues about the ordeal, because we were not flying home. What a nice feeling!
The girls all ended up in our room doing each others hair and makeup while I continued to pack. Having six people in an inside room is quite a squeeze. I told the girls I was heading up to get an iced coffee and showed them how to be sure the flat iron sat on a flat surface, away from anything that could burn.
I went up to deck 9 and grabbed some lemonades for the kids, along with some goodies from Cove Cafe. Lynn found me and helped me carry the party items back to the cabin. Lynn was starving so she got some lunch and we chilled out, literally, in Cove Cafe and had a nice chat.
We tipped our servers and said goodbye to them on our last night at dinner. My room steward, an ok guy, was sort of absent this cruise. Typically these are my favorite people and those who always get above and beyond the suggested tip. This time, he got the expected tip.
I bought a few pictures in Shutters. I like the wait the full week or so before choosing which pictures to buy.
After dinner we all scattered and did our thing. The kids made a last dash to Ocean Quest, trying to finish everything they felt they needed more of before debarking. We went to bed at 11pm, with the alarm set for 6:30am.
We had lunch at headed back to the ship pretty early, about 1pm. We took the tram back and we showered and began the task of packing. I wasn't feeling my usual blues about the ordeal, because we were not flying home. What a nice feeling!
The girls all ended up in our room doing each others hair and makeup while I continued to pack. Having six people in an inside room is quite a squeeze. I told the girls I was heading up to get an iced coffee and showed them how to be sure the flat iron sat on a flat surface, away from anything that could burn.
I went up to deck 9 and grabbed some lemonades for the kids, along with some goodies from Cove Cafe. Lynn found me and helped me carry the party items back to the cabin. Lynn was starving so she got some lunch and we chilled out, literally, in Cove Cafe and had a nice chat.
We tipped our servers and said goodbye to them on our last night at dinner. My room steward, an ok guy, was sort of absent this cruise. Typically these are my favorite people and those who always get above and beyond the suggested tip. This time, he got the expected tip.
I bought a few pictures in Shutters. I like the wait the full week or so before choosing which pictures to buy.
After dinner we all scattered and did our thing. The kids made a last dash to Ocean Quest, trying to finish everything they felt they needed more of before debarking. We went to bed at 11pm, with the alarm set for 6:30am.
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Day at Sea
Thursday, our second day at sea. I'm not used to more port days than sea days. I like the sea days.
We had brunch reservations for 10:30am in Palo. As Sasha had suggested, 'no breakfast, just coffee.' The girls all went to Ocean Quest for the morning.
We had another great table for brunch with beautiful views. Never again will I eat in the private dining room, it was so pleasant being out in the open area.
We ordered one of each type of pizza for the table. I think the Italian sausage one is still my favorite. They are very thin crusted and delicious. I ordered the chicken parm, which used to be done without a tomato sauce, but they've changed their presentation of the dish. It was served over risotto. Like most freshly prepared meals at Palo, this one was great. The stolen bread, fresh berries and whipped cream would have made a good dessert if I hadn't eaten the almond/chocolate and other sweet offerings as well.
We rolled out of Palo, saying goodbye to Sasha and PJ, and picked up the girls.
Dinner was semi formal and again everyone looked lovely. The girls wanted to take some photos together and spent quite a bit of time in line. A photographer, no lie, spent 25 minutes with one family.
We had brunch reservations for 10:30am in Palo. As Sasha had suggested, 'no breakfast, just coffee.' The girls all went to Ocean Quest for the morning.
We had another great table for brunch with beautiful views. Never again will I eat in the private dining room, it was so pleasant being out in the open area.
We ordered one of each type of pizza for the table. I think the Italian sausage one is still my favorite. They are very thin crusted and delicious. I ordered the chicken parm, which used to be done without a tomato sauce, but they've changed their presentation of the dish. It was served over risotto. Like most freshly prepared meals at Palo, this one was great. The stolen bread, fresh berries and whipped cream would have made a good dessert if I hadn't eaten the almond/chocolate and other sweet offerings as well.
We rolled out of Palo, saying goodbye to Sasha and PJ, and picked up the girls.
Dinner was semi formal and again everyone looked lovely. The girls wanted to take some photos together and spent quite a bit of time in line. A photographer, no lie, spent 25 minutes with one family.
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Cozumel
Victoria and I agreed we'd get off the ship early in the morning and walk around the port. We did not get off the ship in 2006 while we were in the port. After breakfast at Topsiders, we wandered off the ship around 9am. It was already very hot.
Victoria decided she wanted to do some shopping in port. She haggles with a lot more ease than I do. We wandered around the port and down a few streets. I bought my nephew a shirt, parents some magnets, and vanilla for everyone at work. Victoria bought little trinkets, but she did not find the purse she was hoping for.
Diamonds International, the store which appears in most Carribean ports, gave Victoria a charm bracelet. "Hey Lady!" was the phrase of the day in this port. Nearly every shop featured rope bracelets with your name woven into them. After a few hours and a few pictures, we went back to the ship. We knocked on Darlene's door and interrupted her nap. Ooops!
Victoria and Sandy splashed around in the pool. It was so hot on deck. I got another iced coffee and some treats from the case and just hung around, watching Disney movies. One of the days featured an ice carver. It was mildly entertaining, watching a guy use a chain saw to carve a block of ice.
Victoria decided she wanted to do some shopping in port. She haggles with a lot more ease than I do. We wandered around the port and down a few streets. I bought my nephew a shirt, parents some magnets, and vanilla for everyone at work. Victoria bought little trinkets, but she did not find the purse she was hoping for.
Diamonds International, the store which appears in most Carribean ports, gave Victoria a charm bracelet. "Hey Lady!" was the phrase of the day in this port. Nearly every shop featured rope bracelets with your name woven into them. After a few hours and a few pictures, we went back to the ship. We knocked on Darlene's door and interrupted her nap. Ooops!
Victoria and Sandy splashed around in the pool. It was so hot on deck. I got another iced coffee and some treats from the case and just hung around, watching Disney movies. One of the days featured an ice carver. It was mildly entertaining, watching a guy use a chain saw to carve a block of ice.
Sunday, September 6, 2009
Grand Cayman Port
Lynn was looking forward to this port. I wasn't thrilled to hear it was a tender port.
After much discussion, Victoria and I agreed we would not do any excursions or go to the beach. Two days at Castaway Cay and lots of time on deck 9 were enough sun for our fair skin. Victoria was looking forward to a day on the ship sans crowd.
We had breakfast on deck 9 and Victoria took a swim. We agreed we'd read for awhile then wander off the ship later to check out the port a bit. At around 11am, we went down to deck 1 and got on a tender. And waited. And waited for the tender to fill up with people. As we sat below, the only spot with seats, we rocked back n forth, forth n back. Blech. By the time we got to the port, I was thoroughly green at 11:45am.
It was hot as hell. The port looked like all the other ports to me. People approached us offering tours and such but we just wandered around, checking out the shops. There was a Margaritaville, Senor Frogs and a Hard Rock Cafe I think. When did all of the ports become identical? Victoria bought a pair of flip flops and something else, and we decided to go back to the ship. It was raining a bit and there were dark clouds in the sky, threatening an interesting tender boat trip back.
We sat on top of the tender boat back and it was a much more pleasant experience. We went to Lumiere's for lunch at 1pm and spotted Marcelito. He's a pip and a half of a server and we seemed to bump into him everywhere on the ship at breakfast and lunch. He'd be a good person to request as a server.
Victoria changed for the pool and we headed up to deck 9. There was a lot of black clouds and lightening in the distance which made for some good lazy-viewing. We didn't spot any of our crew the rest of the day until dinner.
After much discussion, Victoria and I agreed we would not do any excursions or go to the beach. Two days at Castaway Cay and lots of time on deck 9 were enough sun for our fair skin. Victoria was looking forward to a day on the ship sans crowd.
We had breakfast on deck 9 and Victoria took a swim. We agreed we'd read for awhile then wander off the ship later to check out the port a bit. At around 11am, we went down to deck 1 and got on a tender. And waited. And waited for the tender to fill up with people. As we sat below, the only spot with seats, we rocked back n forth, forth n back. Blech. By the time we got to the port, I was thoroughly green at 11:45am.
It was hot as hell. The port looked like all the other ports to me. People approached us offering tours and such but we just wandered around, checking out the shops. There was a Margaritaville, Senor Frogs and a Hard Rock Cafe I think. When did all of the ports become identical? Victoria bought a pair of flip flops and something else, and we decided to go back to the ship. It was raining a bit and there were dark clouds in the sky, threatening an interesting tender boat trip back.
We sat on top of the tender boat back and it was a much more pleasant experience. We went to Lumiere's for lunch at 1pm and spotted Marcelito. He's a pip and a half of a server and we seemed to bump into him everywhere on the ship at breakfast and lunch. He'd be a good person to request as a server.
Victoria changed for the pool and we headed up to deck 9. There was a lot of black clouds and lightening in the distance which made for some good lazy-viewing. We didn't spot any of our crew the rest of the day until dinner.
Saturday, September 5, 2009
Cruise cont.
After getting back to the ship, we showered and changed. The girls hung around on deck 9 playing ping pong and such, and I enjoyed another iced coffee from Cove Cafe. Though I didn't spend much time in Cove Cafe, I did spend more time there than any other cruise. Did I mention it was hot? Inside Cove Cafe are comfy chairs and it's air conditioned.
Dinner was in Parrot Cay. They changed the dining rotations for some reason so we did not follow a 3 restaurant schedule. They kept saying not everyone was getting the right rotation and it didn't make sense to me. I don't remember the exact rotation but we ended up eating at Lumiere's the most I think. Our location and the crowded tables made Animator's too stuffy for me. The lack of windows in the place doesn't help either.
We enjoyed a day at sea on Monday, which I was looking forward to because it meant no schedule, nowhere to be and just relaxing! We spent some time on deck 9 and the girls always seemed to be making plans. This may have been the day the girls went to the theater to enjoy the Hannah Montana movie. The other adults watched the Proposal in the theater and I finally got to see Star Trek. I had missed it in theaters but really enjoyed the movie.
Palo
Victoria and I took a picture together, an event which only seems to happen when we cruise, then wandered around before dinner. Having dinner at 5:45 seems to shorten the day and the character-photo opportunity a bit. We brought the girls to dinner on Monday night in Lumiere's where they had a table for four. Another family wanted main dining but had late, so they gave them our table since the adults were dining in Palo. It was formal night and everyone looked lovely. We were told the girls were excellent during dinner. We would not have allowed them to dine alone, unsupervised by parents if they had not demonstrated an ability to be aware of surroundings, knowledge of the ship, and to stick together all the time.
We had Palo reservations for 6pm and we arrived on time. We spotted Sasha, who had served us three times our last cruise, and PJ quickly re-arranged the tables so we could have him again. Sasha is a great server. The view was incredible and we enjoyed the sunset during dinner. We had some antipasto for the table and breads for dipping. I had tuna (again) and it was the best prepared tuna of the cruise. The table had some risotto and we shared other foods I can't remember. Most folks had the chocolate souffle for dessert, while I had the panna cote served with berries. I really enjoyed dining in the main dining area. The last couple of cruises, we've dined with a larger group and had the private room reserved. I prefer the dining room.
After dinner we met the girls in Studio Sea where they were for family kareoke..karoke... singing! We all went to the Golden Mickeys show. I had skipped this show the last couple of cruises so it was good to see it. Sometimes the rocking of the boat while looking at the stage bothers me a bit but I was ok that evening.
The girls did not want the night to end so they all went to Ocean Quest. The adults dispersed and did their own thing. Sandy brought Victoria back to the room at around 10pm and we called it an evening.
Dinner was in Parrot Cay. They changed the dining rotations for some reason so we did not follow a 3 restaurant schedule. They kept saying not everyone was getting the right rotation and it didn't make sense to me. I don't remember the exact rotation but we ended up eating at Lumiere's the most I think. Our location and the crowded tables made Animator's too stuffy for me. The lack of windows in the place doesn't help either.
We enjoyed a day at sea on Monday, which I was looking forward to because it meant no schedule, nowhere to be and just relaxing! We spent some time on deck 9 and the girls always seemed to be making plans. This may have been the day the girls went to the theater to enjoy the Hannah Montana movie. The other adults watched the Proposal in the theater and I finally got to see Star Trek. I had missed it in theaters but really enjoyed the movie.
Palo
Victoria and I took a picture together, an event which only seems to happen when we cruise, then wandered around before dinner. Having dinner at 5:45 seems to shorten the day and the character-photo opportunity a bit. We brought the girls to dinner on Monday night in Lumiere's where they had a table for four. Another family wanted main dining but had late, so they gave them our table since the adults were dining in Palo. It was formal night and everyone looked lovely. We were told the girls were excellent during dinner. We would not have allowed them to dine alone, unsupervised by parents if they had not demonstrated an ability to be aware of surroundings, knowledge of the ship, and to stick together all the time.
We had Palo reservations for 6pm and we arrived on time. We spotted Sasha, who had served us three times our last cruise, and PJ quickly re-arranged the tables so we could have him again. Sasha is a great server. The view was incredible and we enjoyed the sunset during dinner. We had some antipasto for the table and breads for dipping. I had tuna (again) and it was the best prepared tuna of the cruise. The table had some risotto and we shared other foods I can't remember. Most folks had the chocolate souffle for dessert, while I had the panna cote served with berries. I really enjoyed dining in the main dining area. The last couple of cruises, we've dined with a larger group and had the private room reserved. I prefer the dining room.
After dinner we met the girls in Studio Sea where they were for family kareoke..karoke... singing! We all went to the Golden Mickeys show. I had skipped this show the last couple of cruises so it was good to see it. Sometimes the rocking of the boat while looking at the stage bothers me a bit but I was ok that evening.
The girls did not want the night to end so they all went to Ocean Quest. The adults dispersed and did their own thing. Sandy brought Victoria back to the room at around 10pm and we called it an evening.
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Castaway Cay
I slept until 8:30am and read my book for about a half an hour. I woke up Victoria and we had breakfast at Topsiders, on deck 9. We were dressed and ready for Castaway Cay. It was hard to believe it's been an entire year since I'd been to this island.
We were able to go on the island at 9am, and we strolled off leisurely at 9:30am. We stopped and took some pictures. Typically, we race along to get a 'spot.' Victoria announced she wanted a Castaway Cay t-shirt and she bought one. Disney is pretty clever about selling CC exclusive merchandise on the island only.
Met up with Darlene, Erica and Benita at our spot. It was high tide, and very hot so you only had to take a few steps into the water to be cool. It felt very refreshing, not too salty like in other years. Lynn and Mary joined us, and Stan met up with us for lunch.
Darlene stayed at beach and we returned to the ship at 2pm.
Ship pulled out at 5pm.
We were able to go on the island at 9am, and we strolled off leisurely at 9:30am. We stopped and took some pictures. Typically, we race along to get a 'spot.' Victoria announced she wanted a Castaway Cay t-shirt and she bought one. Disney is pretty clever about selling CC exclusive merchandise on the island only.
Met up with Darlene, Erica and Benita at our spot. It was high tide, and very hot so you only had to take a few steps into the water to be cool. It felt very refreshing, not too salty like in other years. Lynn and Mary joined us, and Stan met up with us for lunch.
Darlene stayed at beach and we returned to the ship at 2pm.
Ship pulled out at 5pm.
Monday, August 31, 2009
Time to Board!
Saturday, August 15 2009.
We slept in a bit and were packed up and ready by 10am. Well, I was packed and ready, Victoria had crawled back under the covers at 8:30am and snoozed for an hour. We agreed to meet at 10:30am, but we were all early and ready by 10:10am. Stan rode with Lynn and the luggage, and Darlene rode with me and the girls. The ride is an hour from Disney World. It was an easy ride, pretty straight. We dropped off everyone, handed our bags to the porter, gassed up the vehicles and returned the cars to Budget. We jumped on the shuttle car over to the port with our carry ons. It’s all very easy.
When we got back to the port, Darlene showed us the announcement. Our entire itinerary was changed. We were not going to Tortola or St. Thomas. Instead, we switched to a Western Carribean itinerary. I was pretty disappointed and I was trying to get used to the idea. I did not want to go to Mexico. The swine flu is in Mexico! Our new plan was Castaway Cay, sea day, Grand Cayman, Cozumel, sea day and Castaway Cay. There was some speculation we might stop in Key West, but not likely.I was very disappointed. Some cast members tried to explain to me about the weather situation. I didn't care about the weather, I understand the weather but it was a total surprise to learn we were going to Mexico.
We boarded just after 12 noon and were all announced as the Brothers Family. Lynn and Mary boarded and we heard, "Welcome to the Brothers Family." When we were asked if we too, were the Brothers Family, it just seemed easier to say YES and move along. What the heck, no one was really paying attention anyway. "Welcome to MORE of the Brothers Family!" Behind us, Darlene, Stan and Sandy boarded and we heard, "Welcome to yet MORE of the Brothers Family!" We went to Parrot Cay and was told the restaurant was full, and to please head up to deck 9. We politely explained we would wait for a table. We were seated within minutes and had a good lunch. Sandy and Jess joined us at the table! Now the entire clan was on board and ready!
Parrot Cay was actually the best food we’d had in days. We ate a lot of counter service in Disney World, which was ok but it was nice to be served. After lunch we went to Rockin’ Bar D and fixed our Palo reservations. There was a huge line for excursions. We decided not to plan any. I wasn’t really excited about the ports, which was fine because we enjoy time on the ship. I asked the woman at the dining table, which corner we'd been assigned. She looked us up and assured us we were not in a corner. Basically, she lied. She also insisted I had not requested Ramen for a server. I patiently explained to her that perhaps she did not have a notation that I requested Ramen for a server, but I assured her I had indeed requested, in writing, Ramen for our server. She said Ramen was serving a party of 20 and apologized. No Ramen for you!
Usually we board pretty early and we were not used to being able to get to our rooms so soon after boarding. We headed up to deck 7 to our inside cabin. No upgrades for us, even after six cruises on the Disney Magic. I was looking forward to having a new location because each time we've sailed, it's been on deck 2. Like our category 12 cabin, the layout of the inside room was the couch first, then the bed, facing the door. I like this arrangement because you don't have to shift sideways past the bed to the couch. This layout makes sense to me.
The flat screen television was on a swivel arm, making it possible to view television from any part of the room. A very needed improvement! Victoria put on the Disney Channel and we waited for our luggage to arrived.
I took my bonine at lunch and it made me very tired. I was falling asleep on the couch. The luggage arrived and Victoria unpacked the cases. We shoved the cases under the bed, to maximize space. The power went out just before the life boat drill. Having an inside cabin without power means a very dark room. After the drill, we went back to our room and snoozed. We went up to deck 9 for the sailaway party but it was hot. Still trying to get used to the idea of a change in itinerary, we went back to the room to freshen up for dinner. Dinner was at 5:45pm.
Our first night was in Animator's Palate and we had the light show on the first evening. We were shown to our table, in the corner. They really packed in the people around our table. We had one large table, rather than a table for adults and one for the kids. It was very crowded. Our servers were Daniel from Hungary and Carlos from Peru. Putra from India was our head server, and we did not see him much.
We assured Daniel we understood the standards of excellence. We spotted Ramen in our dining room. He did have a large group. We waved to him each evening and sang his praises to any one who would listen. I can't remember what we had for dinner, but I'm pretty sure I had tuna the first five days on the ship either in appetizer or main course. Some of the tuna dishes were great, and others not so great. The new menus don't seem too different to me, but I did notice lots of dishes had brown gravy on them. One night, the adults chose five different entres and each one arrived with a brown gravy on them. I didn't think it was good menu planning.
I was falling asleep after dinner and we retired by 8pm. The next day was Castaway Cay.
We slept in a bit and were packed up and ready by 10am. Well, I was packed and ready, Victoria had crawled back under the covers at 8:30am and snoozed for an hour. We agreed to meet at 10:30am, but we were all early and ready by 10:10am. Stan rode with Lynn and the luggage, and Darlene rode with me and the girls. The ride is an hour from Disney World. It was an easy ride, pretty straight. We dropped off everyone, handed our bags to the porter, gassed up the vehicles and returned the cars to Budget. We jumped on the shuttle car over to the port with our carry ons. It’s all very easy.
When we got back to the port, Darlene showed us the announcement. Our entire itinerary was changed. We were not going to Tortola or St. Thomas. Instead, we switched to a Western Carribean itinerary. I was pretty disappointed and I was trying to get used to the idea. I did not want to go to Mexico. The swine flu is in Mexico! Our new plan was Castaway Cay, sea day, Grand Cayman, Cozumel, sea day and Castaway Cay. There was some speculation we might stop in Key West, but not likely.I was very disappointed. Some cast members tried to explain to me about the weather situation. I didn't care about the weather, I understand the weather but it was a total surprise to learn we were going to Mexico.
We boarded just after 12 noon and were all announced as the Brothers Family. Lynn and Mary boarded and we heard, "Welcome to the Brothers Family." When we were asked if we too, were the Brothers Family, it just seemed easier to say YES and move along. What the heck, no one was really paying attention anyway. "Welcome to MORE of the Brothers Family!" Behind us, Darlene, Stan and Sandy boarded and we heard, "Welcome to yet MORE of the Brothers Family!" We went to Parrot Cay and was told the restaurant was full, and to please head up to deck 9. We politely explained we would wait for a table. We were seated within minutes and had a good lunch. Sandy and Jess joined us at the table! Now the entire clan was on board and ready!
Parrot Cay was actually the best food we’d had in days. We ate a lot of counter service in Disney World, which was ok but it was nice to be served. After lunch we went to Rockin’ Bar D and fixed our Palo reservations. There was a huge line for excursions. We decided not to plan any. I wasn’t really excited about the ports, which was fine because we enjoy time on the ship. I asked the woman at the dining table, which corner we'd been assigned. She looked us up and assured us we were not in a corner. Basically, she lied. She also insisted I had not requested Ramen for a server. I patiently explained to her that perhaps she did not have a notation that I requested Ramen for a server, but I assured her I had indeed requested, in writing, Ramen for our server. She said Ramen was serving a party of 20 and apologized. No Ramen for you!
Usually we board pretty early and we were not used to being able to get to our rooms so soon after boarding. We headed up to deck 7 to our inside cabin. No upgrades for us, even after six cruises on the Disney Magic. I was looking forward to having a new location because each time we've sailed, it's been on deck 2. Like our category 12 cabin, the layout of the inside room was the couch first, then the bed, facing the door. I like this arrangement because you don't have to shift sideways past the bed to the couch. This layout makes sense to me.
The flat screen television was on a swivel arm, making it possible to view television from any part of the room. A very needed improvement! Victoria put on the Disney Channel and we waited for our luggage to arrived.
I took my bonine at lunch and it made me very tired. I was falling asleep on the couch. The luggage arrived and Victoria unpacked the cases. We shoved the cases under the bed, to maximize space. The power went out just before the life boat drill. Having an inside cabin without power means a very dark room. After the drill, we went back to our room and snoozed. We went up to deck 9 for the sailaway party but it was hot. Still trying to get used to the idea of a change in itinerary, we went back to the room to freshen up for dinner. Dinner was at 5:45pm.
Our first night was in Animator's Palate and we had the light show on the first evening. We were shown to our table, in the corner. They really packed in the people around our table. We had one large table, rather than a table for adults and one for the kids. It was very crowded. Our servers were Daniel from Hungary and Carlos from Peru. Putra from India was our head server, and we did not see him much.
We assured Daniel we understood the standards of excellence. We spotted Ramen in our dining room. He did have a large group. We waved to him each evening and sang his praises to any one who would listen. I can't remember what we had for dinner, but I'm pretty sure I had tuna the first five days on the ship either in appetizer or main course. Some of the tuna dishes were great, and others not so great. The new menus don't seem too different to me, but I did notice lots of dishes had brown gravy on them. One night, the adults chose five different entres and each one arrived with a brown gravy on them. I didn't think it was good menu planning.
I was falling asleep after dinner and we retired by 8pm. The next day was Castaway Cay.
Sunday, August 30, 2009
Day before Cruise
Friday, August 14, 2009
No Sleeping! I grabbed some breakfast from the market and we had our breakfast in room. We met Lynn and Mary at Epcot at 9am and headed over to Soarin’ over California. We were in row 3 but managed to enjoy the ride, despite seeing feet above us. I just love the orange grove part of the ride, the wind, the views, the scent! After Soarin’, we walked over to Test Track and got in the single riders line. After zipping around on the track, we headed back over to do Nemo and Journey into your Imagination. We went to the Land to cool down and have lunch at 12 noon. It was another scorcher of a day.
After lunch we went to Ice Station cool, stood there remarking just how deeeelicious Beverly soda is, and then went to the countries. We did some shopping in Norway and Germany.
I sprayed the Laila scent all over me! The girls went on the Norway attraction a couple of times while we shopped. The girls had some cotton candy and seemed to be completely heat-zapped.
We shopped in China and enjoyed the 2:30pm performance of the Voices of Liberty in the US. I had never seen the Voices of Liberty and would have watched just about anyone sing at that point, as long as it was in air conditioning. We watched the movie and snoozed in the air conditioning until 3:30pm. I'm pretty sure everyone else in the theater was napping as well.
Too hot to walk around much more, we took the boat across to Mexico and hurried to the car under dark clouds. We went back to CSR and did some swimming. The plan was to have dinner and I would leave by 8pm to pick up Stan, Darlene and Sandy. The food stand near the pool closed at 6pm, foiling our plans for dinner. We walked over to the Pepper Market around 7pm for a quick dinner.
I received a call from Darlene earlier their flight was delayed and a series of delays with taxiing and opening the door made their arrival a little later than we planned. I circled around the airport a few times waiting for them to arrive. I picked them up at a little after 10pm and went back to the resort. It was good to see these old friends of ours, and the girls were all especially excited to be reunited.
I dropped off Stan and Darlene at check in and brought Sandy over to the girls to swim. The girls, all pruney-like, were excited to see Sandy. Darlene joined us a while later and we made plans to meet up the next day to drive to the port. We sat by the pool, all of us exhausted, but enjoyed the evening. We agreed we were not in a hurry to arrive to the port.
We went back to the room about 11pm, and went to bed by 11:30pm. Tomorrow we board the cruise!
No Sleeping! I grabbed some breakfast from the market and we had our breakfast in room. We met Lynn and Mary at Epcot at 9am and headed over to Soarin’ over California. We were in row 3 but managed to enjoy the ride, despite seeing feet above us. I just love the orange grove part of the ride, the wind, the views, the scent! After Soarin’, we walked over to Test Track and got in the single riders line. After zipping around on the track, we headed back over to do Nemo and Journey into your Imagination. We went to the Land to cool down and have lunch at 12 noon. It was another scorcher of a day.
After lunch we went to Ice Station cool, stood there remarking just how deeeelicious Beverly soda is, and then went to the countries. We did some shopping in Norway and Germany.
I sprayed the Laila scent all over me! The girls went on the Norway attraction a couple of times while we shopped. The girls had some cotton candy and seemed to be completely heat-zapped.
We shopped in China and enjoyed the 2:30pm performance of the Voices of Liberty in the US. I had never seen the Voices of Liberty and would have watched just about anyone sing at that point, as long as it was in air conditioning. We watched the movie and snoozed in the air conditioning until 3:30pm. I'm pretty sure everyone else in the theater was napping as well.
Too hot to walk around much more, we took the boat across to Mexico and hurried to the car under dark clouds. We went back to CSR and did some swimming. The plan was to have dinner and I would leave by 8pm to pick up Stan, Darlene and Sandy. The food stand near the pool closed at 6pm, foiling our plans for dinner. We walked over to the Pepper Market around 7pm for a quick dinner.
I received a call from Darlene earlier their flight was delayed and a series of delays with taxiing and opening the door made their arrival a little later than we planned. I circled around the airport a few times waiting for them to arrive. I picked them up at a little after 10pm and went back to the resort. It was good to see these old friends of ours, and the girls were all especially excited to be reunited.
I dropped off Stan and Darlene at check in and brought Sandy over to the girls to swim. The girls, all pruney-like, were excited to see Sandy. Darlene joined us a while later and we made plans to meet up the next day to drive to the port. We sat by the pool, all of us exhausted, but enjoyed the evening. We agreed we were not in a hurry to arrive to the port.
We went back to the room about 11pm, and went to bed by 11:30pm. Tomorrow we board the cruise!
First Full Day of Vacation!
Thursday, August 13, 2009
We received a Stitch/Mickey wake up call at 6:30am. Well, we received it but I was the only one to get up. We were meeting Lynn and Mary at MGM Studios at 9am. I know Disney keeps trying to get me to call it Disney's Hollywood Studios, but MGM is so easy to say!
I walked over to the main building and got some breakfast to bring back to the room. Victoria slept in a bit. Walking out of the room at 7am was met with an instant wall of hot/muggy weather which instantly fogged up my sunglasses and camera lens. If it wasn't so hot out, the walk over to the main building would have been a pleasant one. As it was, everyone I passed had a glistening about them, and some other wackos were actually jogging.
The market place had an assortment of grab n go food as well as coffee, bottled drinks/juices and some hot breakfast offerings. I grabbed a kids egg n cheese biscuit which came with a juice and wedge of orange for Victoria and a yogurt fruit plate for me. Victoria ate the yogurt/fruit/granola plate and I was left with the kiddie breakfast biscuit. It wasn't bad!
After a shower and breakfast, we drove over to the MGM/Hollywood Studios. Victoria’s ticket did not work so we went to Guest Services and replaced it. We had a lot of problems getting our tickets to work properly in the turnstyles. After some confusion, we met Lynn and Mary and went over to Rock n Roller Coaster. I had my colorful St. Martin shirt on, and the director shouted out to us, "Honey, no one will lose you in that shirt." Victoria thought it was a riot. All part of the fun!
It was hot. I mean really hot and muggy. The girls got fast passes and rode the ride 3 times, once without a pass, and twice using all of ours. It was so hot waiting for them. We went on The Great Movie Ride. The air conditioning of the wait felt good. We headed out of the park by 11am and went back to the Coronado Springs Resort.
We met the Lane Family at the Pepper Market at 12:30pm. It was good to see the family again. What nice people! They mentioned Amanda a lot, the person who still connects all of us. One of Amanda’s sisters looks so much like her it was easy to remember Amanda’s face and mannerisms. The family seems well, but still feels a huge loss after six months. The kids swam in the pool and splashed around for the afternoon. We said goodbye and went back to the room. The heat had zapped us and we agreed to call it a night and meet up the next day at Epcot.
Victoria and I ended up grabbing some quick food at the market, and read books/lazed around until time for bed. If I don't look up from my book, I'd think I was home because Victoria watches the Disney Channel exclusively.
We received a Stitch/Mickey wake up call at 6:30am. Well, we received it but I was the only one to get up. We were meeting Lynn and Mary at MGM Studios at 9am. I know Disney keeps trying to get me to call it Disney's Hollywood Studios, but MGM is so easy to say!
I walked over to the main building and got some breakfast to bring back to the room. Victoria slept in a bit. Walking out of the room at 7am was met with an instant wall of hot/muggy weather which instantly fogged up my sunglasses and camera lens. If it wasn't so hot out, the walk over to the main building would have been a pleasant one. As it was, everyone I passed had a glistening about them, and some other wackos were actually jogging.
The market place had an assortment of grab n go food as well as coffee, bottled drinks/juices and some hot breakfast offerings. I grabbed a kids egg n cheese biscuit which came with a juice and wedge of orange for Victoria and a yogurt fruit plate for me. Victoria ate the yogurt/fruit/granola plate and I was left with the kiddie breakfast biscuit. It wasn't bad!
After a shower and breakfast, we drove over to the MGM/Hollywood Studios. Victoria’s ticket did not work so we went to Guest Services and replaced it. We had a lot of problems getting our tickets to work properly in the turnstyles. After some confusion, we met Lynn and Mary and went over to Rock n Roller Coaster. I had my colorful St. Martin shirt on, and the director shouted out to us, "Honey, no one will lose you in that shirt." Victoria thought it was a riot. All part of the fun!
It was hot. I mean really hot and muggy. The girls got fast passes and rode the ride 3 times, once without a pass, and twice using all of ours. It was so hot waiting for them. We went on The Great Movie Ride. The air conditioning of the wait felt good. We headed out of the park by 11am and went back to the Coronado Springs Resort.
We met the Lane Family at the Pepper Market at 12:30pm. It was good to see the family again. What nice people! They mentioned Amanda a lot, the person who still connects all of us. One of Amanda’s sisters looks so much like her it was easy to remember Amanda’s face and mannerisms. The family seems well, but still feels a huge loss after six months. The kids swam in the pool and splashed around for the afternoon. We said goodbye and went back to the room. The heat had zapped us and we agreed to call it a night and meet up the next day at Epcot.
Victoria and I ended up grabbing some quick food at the market, and read books/lazed around until time for bed. If I don't look up from my book, I'd think I was home because Victoria watches the Disney Channel exclusively.
Saturday, August 29, 2009
Coronado Springs Resort Review
We spent three nights at the Coronado Springs Resort a couple of weeks ago before our cruise. Initially I had booked a cheapie hotel near Disney World but decided to splurge to an on site resort. Life is short, vacation well.
Our inspiration for a three night pre-cruise stay was our dear friends, Lynn and daughter Mary, would be unable to spend time with us after the cruise, but they were in the World before the cruise. Victoria and Mary have spent the last few years running around Disney theme parks going on rides together. We did not want to miss out on some quality theme park action with them!
I used my annual pass for a discount. I believe I could have gotten a similar deal with a Disney VISA card but I used the AP discount. The discount was 84/night and after taxes came to 100/night. We could have stayed in a Value Resort for cheaper but my stay in 2006 was enough value for me. When I called to make the reservation, the man on the phone was so enthusiastic. You've got to love that about Disney employees! He asked if we were celebrating anything special. I told him we were not celebrating any special events. Later in the conversation, he asked Victoria's date of birth. He decided we were celebrating her birthday since it was 'only' a month after! Super!
I had no idea what this would mean, but I hoped it might mean a nicer room, or a balloon waiting in the room, a card or something! I did not make any special requests, opting to 'roll the dice' to see what we would be assigned. It is my hope to someday have stayed in all of the Disney properties, and since the resort was recently refurbished, we chose this resort. This would round out our stay at all of the Disney moderate resorts.
We arrived to the Coronado Springs resort after check-in time and were taken quickly at the reservation desk. A very peppy Asian woman clapped her hands when she learned it was our first stay. When she pulled up our reservation, she clapped her hands together again, along with a hop, and seemed genuinely excited it was Victoria's birthday a month ago. By this time it was pretty hard not to get excited. I was on my tip toes, doing a little bounce of my own, feeling like we had won a prize! She pulled out .... a birthday button and added Victoria's name to the button. Tada!
She showed us a map, gave us our keys, and sent us on our way. We drove to the Casitas area, building 4/close to 5. We were on the top floor and opened the door to find a standard room in great shape. The resort was recently refurbished. In fact, they were working on a building the entire time we were there. There are three themed areas of the resort: casitas, cabanas and ranchos.
The room had a coffee pot, refrigerator and a flat screen television. Instead of a curtain separating the bedroom from the bath/sink area, there are now sliding doors. This added a nice touch. There was a writing desk with a rolling chair. There were two ottoman-like chairs as well. I prefer a table with two chairs over this set up. There was a family staying one floor down from us, visible from outside but able to be heard from inside, who rolled their chair outside as if it was a front porch. Lord!
The doors at all of the moderate resorts open to the outside, not a lobby. It really does not matter to me what view we have because we are not likely to leave our blinds open for passersby to view inside. Despite that, I was disappointed we had a view of the parking lot. In fairness, the view was probably one of the more decent parking lot views, because you had a lovely landscaped entrance to view before the parking lot. I did make a mental note to always make a request when I reserve the room. I think I would have liked to be closer to the main building or the main pool.
View from our room
There was a quiet pool near our building but the kids were not interested in that. You had to use your room towels at the quiet pools but towels are provided at the themed pool. The themed pool was pretty large and had a mayan temple theme. There was no water running down the temple as I had seen in pictures. The quick food service closed at 6pm by the pool. We were disappointed with this because it was our plan to do a quick meal by the pool while we waited for our friends Darlene, Stan and Sandy to arrive that night.
The resort is huge. I mean really huge. It just might be a little too large for my liking. It is a convention resort, and I saw many people with leather folders in hand with ties on when I walked to the main building in the morning. Other than mornings, I could not really spot many conventioneers on the grounds unless we were in the main building.
The Pepper Market is the resort's food court. You are seated at a table and given a slip of paper. Your server provides you with a cloth napkin and silverware. The server takes your drink order and stamps your slip. The drinks are refillable. You then walk over to the area and choose your meal from several food stations including: salad/deli, mexican/grill, hot dogs/bbq, pizza/pasta, bakery and a kids' area. It's a pretty good choice for a food court but makes it near impossible for your entire group to have a hot meal together. Victoria was done with her meal by the time I sat down with my meal. The options are good, the prices are fair. On your way out of the restaurant, you give your slip to the staff member at a register and they add it up along with a 10% service fee. There is also a grab n go market perfect for breakfast back in your room and a sit down restaurant. We did not eat in the Maya Grill, the sit down restaurant.
The resort is beautiful at night. This may be one of the best reasons to stay at the resort. It is dark and and on our first night, because I wasn't really sure where we were going, it intimidated me a bit to walk around in the darkness. After our first full day, when I knew the lay of the resort, it didn't bother me as much and I was able to appreciate the beauty.
All in all, the resort is a beautiful resort with a great Southwest theme. Victoria said it did not have a Disney feel to her. I would stay at this resort again for an extended stay but not for a short stay where the parks are the focus of the stay. We did not take advantage of the sit down restaurant, the exercise room, the beauty salon/spa services, bars or water activities. In fact, there was a sign stating the marina was closed for the season. My favorite moderate resort is the Port Orleans Riverside, formally known as Dixie Landings. There is something so whimsical about the butterfly gardens, gazebos and magnolia trees that makes strolling around the resort an activity rather than a hike.
Our inspiration for a three night pre-cruise stay was our dear friends, Lynn and daughter Mary, would be unable to spend time with us after the cruise, but they were in the World before the cruise. Victoria and Mary have spent the last few years running around Disney theme parks going on rides together. We did not want to miss out on some quality theme park action with them!
I used my annual pass for a discount. I believe I could have gotten a similar deal with a Disney VISA card but I used the AP discount. The discount was 84/night and after taxes came to 100/night. We could have stayed in a Value Resort for cheaper but my stay in 2006 was enough value for me. When I called to make the reservation, the man on the phone was so enthusiastic. You've got to love that about Disney employees! He asked if we were celebrating anything special. I told him we were not celebrating any special events. Later in the conversation, he asked Victoria's date of birth. He decided we were celebrating her birthday since it was 'only' a month after! Super!
I had no idea what this would mean, but I hoped it might mean a nicer room, or a balloon waiting in the room, a card or something! I did not make any special requests, opting to 'roll the dice' to see what we would be assigned. It is my hope to someday have stayed in all of the Disney properties, and since the resort was recently refurbished, we chose this resort. This would round out our stay at all of the Disney moderate resorts.
We arrived to the Coronado Springs resort after check-in time and were taken quickly at the reservation desk. A very peppy Asian woman clapped her hands when she learned it was our first stay. When she pulled up our reservation, she clapped her hands together again, along with a hop, and seemed genuinely excited it was Victoria's birthday a month ago. By this time it was pretty hard not to get excited. I was on my tip toes, doing a little bounce of my own, feeling like we had won a prize! She pulled out .... a birthday button and added Victoria's name to the button. Tada!
She showed us a map, gave us our keys, and sent us on our way. We drove to the Casitas area, building 4/close to 5. We were on the top floor and opened the door to find a standard room in great shape. The resort was recently refurbished. In fact, they were working on a building the entire time we were there. There are three themed areas of the resort: casitas, cabanas and ranchos.
The room had a coffee pot, refrigerator and a flat screen television. Instead of a curtain separating the bedroom from the bath/sink area, there are now sliding doors. This added a nice touch. There was a writing desk with a rolling chair. There were two ottoman-like chairs as well. I prefer a table with two chairs over this set up. There was a family staying one floor down from us, visible from outside but able to be heard from inside, who rolled their chair outside as if it was a front porch. Lord!
The doors at all of the moderate resorts open to the outside, not a lobby. It really does not matter to me what view we have because we are not likely to leave our blinds open for passersby to view inside. Despite that, I was disappointed we had a view of the parking lot. In fairness, the view was probably one of the more decent parking lot views, because you had a lovely landscaped entrance to view before the parking lot. I did make a mental note to always make a request when I reserve the room. I think I would have liked to be closer to the main building or the main pool.
View from our room
There was a quiet pool near our building but the kids were not interested in that. You had to use your room towels at the quiet pools but towels are provided at the themed pool. The themed pool was pretty large and had a mayan temple theme. There was no water running down the temple as I had seen in pictures. The quick food service closed at 6pm by the pool. We were disappointed with this because it was our plan to do a quick meal by the pool while we waited for our friends Darlene, Stan and Sandy to arrive that night.
The resort is huge. I mean really huge. It just might be a little too large for my liking. It is a convention resort, and I saw many people with leather folders in hand with ties on when I walked to the main building in the morning. Other than mornings, I could not really spot many conventioneers on the grounds unless we were in the main building.
The Pepper Market is the resort's food court. You are seated at a table and given a slip of paper. Your server provides you with a cloth napkin and silverware. The server takes your drink order and stamps your slip. The drinks are refillable. You then walk over to the area and choose your meal from several food stations including: salad/deli, mexican/grill, hot dogs/bbq, pizza/pasta, bakery and a kids' area. It's a pretty good choice for a food court but makes it near impossible for your entire group to have a hot meal together. Victoria was done with her meal by the time I sat down with my meal. The options are good, the prices are fair. On your way out of the restaurant, you give your slip to the staff member at a register and they add it up along with a 10% service fee. There is also a grab n go market perfect for breakfast back in your room and a sit down restaurant. We did not eat in the Maya Grill, the sit down restaurant.
The resort is beautiful at night. This may be one of the best reasons to stay at the resort. It is dark and and on our first night, because I wasn't really sure where we were going, it intimidated me a bit to walk around in the darkness. After our first full day, when I knew the lay of the resort, it didn't bother me as much and I was able to appreciate the beauty.
All in all, the resort is a beautiful resort with a great Southwest theme. Victoria said it did not have a Disney feel to her. I would stay at this resort again for an extended stay but not for a short stay where the parks are the focus of the stay. We did not take advantage of the sit down restaurant, the exercise room, the beauty salon/spa services, bars or water activities. In fact, there was a sign stating the marina was closed for the season. My favorite moderate resort is the Port Orleans Riverside, formally known as Dixie Landings. There is something so whimsical about the butterfly gardens, gazebos and magnolia trees that makes strolling around the resort an activity rather than a hike.
Sunday, August 23, 2009
Day of Departure
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
I woke up at 6:30am, made coffee and finished packing. By 8am, all of the suitcases and other items were ready to go. Suddenly the dogs seemed to know what was going on and went crazy. They started barking, howling and jumping around. I don’t know how they know they are going in the car, but they do.
We got to the kennel at 9am and dropped off the monsters. We dropped off some bags of clothing at the Goodwill. While packing, we had amassed quite a pile of clothing which will not fit this fall, many of the items were brand new. We stopped at my parents and picked up Victoria’s favorite sunglasses she had left there. It was a smooth ride to the park n fly. We were at the airport by 10:45am. We checked in our luggage. I still don’t like the dragging the cases over to two different spots.
Victoria bought us lunch. She insisted. We headed over to the gate with a half an hour to spare. There were many pre-boarding people. The Southwest line situation has changed a bit. No longer do you board by A, B, or C. You have a letter and a number. We were A42. We boarded without problems and Victoria grabbed a seat by the window while I grabbed one on the aisle, leaving a seat between us. No one sat there and we had a bit of a bumpy ride, which was delayed by about 45 minutes.
One of the flight attedants was a big burly dude with a military hair cut. He looked a lot like the Federal Air Marshals except he wore a Southwest uniform. Some of the passengers were really interesting. There was an entire family near us who asked for 3 sodas each, extra snacks, and wanted alcohol and had a fit when they announced no cash. There were several people who used canes to ambulate, who used the flight attendants when using the bathroom. Even after announcing no waiting by the front lavatory, people tried to do it anyway. I don’t remember such demanding passengers.
Because we were seated up front, we were off the plane quickly and went to grab our luggage. We went over to the budget counter, suitcases in hand, and were told to go across the street to the Rapid Check in Counter. We dragged our stuff across the street, and the woman in the kiosk said I had to go back. I patiently explained to her I was told to come here, and I would not be dragging my cases back to the counter. The woman asked who sent us, and Victoria told her his name, what he was wearing and the color of his skin, when asked. She cursed the employee and gave us a Chevy Malibu.
We packed up the car and I noticed the car was not exactly full of gas. That annoyed me because I was not going to walk back for them to put a notation. I connected the GPS and drove to the Coronado Springs Resort. We arrived at around 5pm. It was very humid and cloudy in Orlando. We called Lynn and Mary and agreed to meet them at the Wilderness Lodge Villas for dinner. We were tired and quickly unpacked and drove over to the Lodge by 6pm. We hung around with Lynn and Mary in their one bedroom villa before going to the lounge for dinner at the Whispering Canyon. Dinner was eh – so-so. The kids did not eat their chicken and pasta 18 dollar dish and my herb seafood cakes were a quiche consistency. The girls had a princess cake inside of a treasure box and we called it a night.
We drove back to the Coronado Springs Resort. The resort is huge and very spread out. It’s beautiful at night. We were tired and I fell asleep after watching some Disney television.
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Home stretch!
Why does work seem so impossible just before you leave for vacation? I had one project to complete today and I got into work by 7:30am to get a jump. Victoria slept at my parents house so my morning goes a lot faster when she is not under foot. I received an email requiring some action so that took priority over my project. It did not seem the day or tasks would ever get done but it did end on a fairly positive note.
I forgot to update my voice mail. Several times today I stared at the phone, trying to remember which buttons to push to record a new voice message, only to be distracted and never got back to the task. Now people will think I'm 'either on the phone or away from my desk' forever!
I put gas in the vehicle after picking up Victoria and we headed home. Grilled cheese sandwiches for dinner, because about all we had left was cheese and bread unless I defrosted something. When I get back from vacation I will have to do some serious grocery shopping.
I dragged out the larger suitcase and tossed all of the 'stuff' in it: flat iron, travel hamper, shoes, sanitizer, and seemed to have little room left for clothes. I stuffed too many clothes in the suitcase and weighed them: one is 38 lbs and one is 45. I added sunscreen and stuff and pushed the limits. Victoria's carryon will have my DSLR and my shoulder bag has my point n shoot. I don't know how I do this every time. I know better and I still can't seem to get travel packing down.
Charged the MP3players, phones and got all wires in order: camera, headphones, chargers etc. The dogs know something is up. Well the bassett hound, as usual is clueless and just the idea of trying to figure out what the suitcases are exhausted her and she took a nap. The border collie mutt seems to know exactly what is going on and is doing his best to behave in hopes he'll come along. He must not be too smart because he forgets he doesn't like people much.
I organized all of my cards and papers. I have about 12 reservations for a car. I can't remember why. Some are duplicates but I kept printing them out and filing them. I think I made more than one 'in case' I don't qualify for the Delta Airline discount. It's probably for employees but I couldn't verify it so I made more than one. I hate being like that, and I sure hope no one is turned away from reserving.
I ground some fresh Kona coffee beans and we'll eat whatever is left in the house for breakfast before we head out tomorrow.
I forgot to update my voice mail. Several times today I stared at the phone, trying to remember which buttons to push to record a new voice message, only to be distracted and never got back to the task. Now people will think I'm 'either on the phone or away from my desk' forever!
I put gas in the vehicle after picking up Victoria and we headed home. Grilled cheese sandwiches for dinner, because about all we had left was cheese and bread unless I defrosted something. When I get back from vacation I will have to do some serious grocery shopping.
I dragged out the larger suitcase and tossed all of the 'stuff' in it: flat iron, travel hamper, shoes, sanitizer, and seemed to have little room left for clothes. I stuffed too many clothes in the suitcase and weighed them: one is 38 lbs and one is 45. I added sunscreen and stuff and pushed the limits. Victoria's carryon will have my DSLR and my shoulder bag has my point n shoot. I don't know how I do this every time. I know better and I still can't seem to get travel packing down.
Charged the MP3players, phones and got all wires in order: camera, headphones, chargers etc. The dogs know something is up. Well the bassett hound, as usual is clueless and just the idea of trying to figure out what the suitcases are exhausted her and she took a nap. The border collie mutt seems to know exactly what is going on and is doing his best to behave in hopes he'll come along. He must not be too smart because he forgets he doesn't like people much.
I organized all of my cards and papers. I have about 12 reservations for a car. I can't remember why. Some are duplicates but I kept printing them out and filing them. I think I made more than one 'in case' I don't qualify for the Delta Airline discount. It's probably for employees but I couldn't verify it so I made more than one. I hate being like that, and I sure hope no one is turned away from reserving.
I ground some fresh Kona coffee beans and we'll eat whatever is left in the house for breakfast before we head out tomorrow.
Monday, August 10, 2009
Amalfi Coast 2010
I wish everyone could vacation. I really do. I think everyone you work with, live with and relate with would be much happier people if everyone took a vacation. Even if you don't go anywhere, take a vacation from the routine of it all. It's healthy. Today, Adventures by Disney released their 2010 plans for their guided tours. It's insanely expensive, but all of the work is done for you. Lynn and Darlene have booked so we'll be doing vacation numero six, me and Lynn will be seven years. We have chosen the Central Italy tour. Maybe more friends will join, it will be fun. I'm so excited to see the Amalfi Coast, the place my great grandparents were born. Very cool!
Unless you're packing. Packing isn't healthy. I packed all of the pre-cruise things and the next step is the cruise-wear which includes: formal wear, dinner clothes, snorkel gear, door magnets, pirate gear. I keep telling myself I've already got 3 outfits packed and don't need much more, but I know I'll overdo it.
I stopped at TJMaxx on the way home. I bought a new bathing suit and found a new formal dress. Now Victoria has to change her formal thing because it's not really formal. The formal dress fits the occasion and is comfortable. I hope I remember my dress shoes otherwise Birkies with sparkles will be the emsemble. Blech.
I've decided the responsible thing to do is pack tomorrow night, otherwise I'll be tempted to overpack.
Unless you're packing. Packing isn't healthy. I packed all of the pre-cruise things and the next step is the cruise-wear which includes: formal wear, dinner clothes, snorkel gear, door magnets, pirate gear. I keep telling myself I've already got 3 outfits packed and don't need much more, but I know I'll overdo it.
I stopped at TJMaxx on the way home. I bought a new bathing suit and found a new formal dress. Now Victoria has to change her formal thing because it's not really formal. The formal dress fits the occasion and is comfortable. I hope I remember my dress shoes otherwise Birkies with sparkles will be the emsemble. Blech.
I've decided the responsible thing to do is pack tomorrow night, otherwise I'll be tempted to overpack.
Sunday, August 9, 2009
Packing Meltdown
Remember the most functional family? Well, they must have left already for vacation because the people in THIS house had a melt down.
I woke up this morning and made pancakes. In my best opera voice, I sang upstairs to my child to get up. Pancakes are her favorite. We are a functional family. This should go smoothly. Four calls later, moving down several octives, I demanded she come downstairs and eat the pancakes before I give them to the poor children. Later, she asked if I would make pancakes while on vacation when we stay with Sandy and Darlene and I snapped, "no." She shrugged her shoulders and said, "Darlene will make them then."
I brought down the suitcases. We are flying Southwest so we aren't restricted to one case each, though that's my goal. Two cases and one duffel is what I'm aiming for. I made the mistake of asking Victoria, 'feel like grabbing the last of the laundry in the dryer?' and she quipped, 'Nooooo' while rolling her eyes.
I should note I have painfully explained, many times, to my daughter that eye rolling and walking away from me while I'm talking are dangerous to her health. I've explained this since she was five years old. I feel I've given her fair warning. I let the first one go. I went upstairs to begin the piles of clothing and I realized a hurricane had hit my daughter's room. All the laundry that was done this weekend sat on her bed, dressers and desk. There was no way she was ready to pack. I called her upstairs and asked her to get things in order. Another eye roll.
Melt down number one. I don't remember exactly what I said but I think it was along the lines of children in Africa are starving for vacations and I'll take one of those children if she was going to be ungrateful! Then I announced I was going to give her two seconds for an attitude adjustment. I meant to say two minutes but I couldn't correct myself because I feared another eye roll would happen and I'd have to ship her to Africa along with pancakes.
For twenty minutes we searched for my bathing suit. No, not that one the blue one. That's green. Where's the blue one? After looking in every drawer and closet, it hit me that it was in the back of the van, packed 'just in case' a swimming opportunity came up. I tried on the bathing suit. It's purple, not blue. I might be harpooned if I wear that one in public. I moved on to the other one, and hated that one too. Melt down number two. I hate all of my clothes. Victoria cheerfully pointed out all of my shorts and capris are kaki and everyone will think I'm wearing the same ones every day. Great, thanks honey!
I hate packing!
I woke up this morning and made pancakes. In my best opera voice, I sang upstairs to my child to get up. Pancakes are her favorite. We are a functional family. This should go smoothly. Four calls later, moving down several octives, I demanded she come downstairs and eat the pancakes before I give them to the poor children. Later, she asked if I would make pancakes while on vacation when we stay with Sandy and Darlene and I snapped, "no." She shrugged her shoulders and said, "Darlene will make them then."
I brought down the suitcases. We are flying Southwest so we aren't restricted to one case each, though that's my goal. Two cases and one duffel is what I'm aiming for. I made the mistake of asking Victoria, 'feel like grabbing the last of the laundry in the dryer?' and she quipped, 'Nooooo' while rolling her eyes.
I should note I have painfully explained, many times, to my daughter that eye rolling and walking away from me while I'm talking are dangerous to her health. I've explained this since she was five years old. I feel I've given her fair warning. I let the first one go. I went upstairs to begin the piles of clothing and I realized a hurricane had hit my daughter's room. All the laundry that was done this weekend sat on her bed, dressers and desk. There was no way she was ready to pack. I called her upstairs and asked her to get things in order. Another eye roll.
Melt down number one. I don't remember exactly what I said but I think it was along the lines of children in Africa are starving for vacations and I'll take one of those children if she was going to be ungrateful! Then I announced I was going to give her two seconds for an attitude adjustment. I meant to say two minutes but I couldn't correct myself because I feared another eye roll would happen and I'd have to ship her to Africa along with pancakes.
For twenty minutes we searched for my bathing suit. No, not that one the blue one. That's green. Where's the blue one? After looking in every drawer and closet, it hit me that it was in the back of the van, packed 'just in case' a swimming opportunity came up. I tried on the bathing suit. It's purple, not blue. I might be harpooned if I wear that one in public. I moved on to the other one, and hated that one too. Melt down number two. I hate all of my clothes. Victoria cheerfully pointed out all of my shorts and capris are kaki and everyone will think I'm wearing the same ones every day. Great, thanks honey!
I hate packing!
No air conditioning in August
It's ridiculous isn't it? I've had the window air conditioner on a few nights this summer but was actually a little cool last night without air conditioning. This is some interesting weather to be leaving. It's 70 degrees here and feels dry. Orlando is 82 degrees currently and it states it feels like 89.
Saturday, August 8, 2009
Breathe Easy
Today was Victoria's annual check up. It was a pretty good one because we learned she is 2 pounds from legally being out of a booster seat and is in the 10 percentile for height, and 25 percentile for weight. She's never had numbers as good as this. If she has a growth spurt in the next couple of months, it will be record-breaking. She's not tall, but she's not anywhere near a number which sends us to an endocrinologist for tests. The physician asked a bunch of questions then shook my hand stating we were the most functional family she's met in awhile. That made me giggle. Functional! Ha!
I just read today in 1974, Richard Nixon announced his resignation. I wonder how he would feel about Sotomayor becoming Supreme Court justice. She's a Yankee fan too! This means that the beginning of August has always been a strange time of year. It has certainly been strange this year and thinking back, lots of unsettling events happen this time in the summer, especially at work. The biggest challenge of this week will be to leave the work behind and move into vacation mode.
I still haven't packed. All progress today halted when the Yankee game came on television . I wanted to finish laundry because when I try to pack before laundry is done, I tend to 'find' more favorites to wear and overpack. Tomorrow we'll definitely have the piles done, but will wait to stuff the cases until another day. The lawn looks as if it hasn't been mowed in weeks when it was done last weekend.
I haven't picked the vacation reading yet. Just when I have a pile, I make another pile of books somewhere else. I'm just finishing a book that truly was not worth reading, though it had decent reviews. I found the Glass Castle book at a tag sale this afternoon and bought it. I read it last summer and never even made it to California because I finished it on the plane. What a good book! I gave the one I read last summer away. Maybe I'll read it again, though it feels too soon.
I just read today in 1974, Richard Nixon announced his resignation. I wonder how he would feel about Sotomayor becoming Supreme Court justice. She's a Yankee fan too! This means that the beginning of August has always been a strange time of year. It has certainly been strange this year and thinking back, lots of unsettling events happen this time in the summer, especially at work. The biggest challenge of this week will be to leave the work behind and move into vacation mode.
I still haven't packed. All progress today halted when the Yankee game came on television . I wanted to finish laundry because when I try to pack before laundry is done, I tend to 'find' more favorites to wear and overpack. Tomorrow we'll definitely have the piles done, but will wait to stuff the cases until another day. The lawn looks as if it hasn't been mowed in weeks when it was done last weekend.
I haven't picked the vacation reading yet. Just when I have a pile, I make another pile of books somewhere else. I'm just finishing a book that truly was not worth reading, though it had decent reviews. I found the Glass Castle book at a tag sale this afternoon and bought it. I read it last summer and never even made it to California because I finished it on the plane. What a good book! I gave the one I read last summer away. Maybe I'll read it again, though it feels too soon.
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
Directions to Port
PORT CANAVERAL DRIVING DIRECTIONS
From Walt Disney World® Resort to Port Canaveral
1. Take State Road 536 East which leads directly to the 417 (Greenway). State Road 417 is a toll road.
2. Follow the 417 to State Road 528 (Beachline Expressway). State Road 528 is a toll road.
3. Go east on State Road 528.
4. At the fork in the road, veer right to stay on State Road 528.
5. Continue on State Road 528 and make your way over the Indian River and Banana River.
6. Turn onto State Road 401, which will loop and head north over the channel locks.
7. Stay in the right-hand lane and follow the signs to Cruise Terminal A.
From Walt Disney World® Resort to Port Canaveral
1. Take State Road 536 East which leads directly to the 417 (Greenway). State Road 417 is a toll road.
2. Follow the 417 to State Road 528 (Beachline Expressway). State Road 528 is a toll road.
3. Go east on State Road 528.
4. At the fork in the road, veer right to stay on State Road 528.
5. Continue on State Road 528 and make your way over the Indian River and Banana River.
6. Turn onto State Road 401, which will loop and head north over the channel locks.
7. Stay in the right-hand lane and follow the signs to Cruise Terminal A.
Da Plan!
Vacation Plans:
Wednesday afternoon: arrive to Coronado Springs Resort. Call Lynn, "We're here" and decide then. Unknown if to hang around resort and be lazy or venture to a park for evening. Either way, we'll see Lynn and Mary Thursday for sure.
Thursday: Go to whichever park Lynn and I want to go to: MGM or Epcot. Kids will be happy either way. Mid day break at WLV or CSR.
Friday: Go to another park. Which one I don't care. Pick up Darlene and Stan in evening. Time escapes me. Perhaps leave Victoria with Lynn for maximum fun time. Might be tight if I take both girls.
Maybe plan a quickie late night swim at Coronado Springs Resort? Reunion of sorts.
Saturday: Lynn drives over to Coronado Springs Resort. We load up cars including Stan with Lynn. God help us if I forgot GPS. I really rely on it. Not to worry, I'm sure Stan's gadget phone will have a GPS.
Easy drive to port. Drop off All kids, Darlene and Stan and luggage, follow signs out to main road where Budget rental is right there. (memory says: left and left)
Take shuttle from Budget to port. Meet Stan and Darlene with kids. Stan and Darlene will have an early boarding number. Maybe they should try and get 2 of them and pretend like they are single parents. This will alleviate questions if our boarding group is too large. Worst case: I have a boarding number 11 somewhere from last cruise.
HELLO Sandy and Jess!
Go to Parrot Cay because it's easier to stow your stuff.
Eat, eat and eat.
Wander off ship in St. Thomas, take taxi to Aquarium. Hang at beach, taxi back to ship whether together or separate (it's your vacation, you do what ya wanna do!)
Eat, eat and eat.
Wander off ship in Tortola - hey taxi, take us to Brewer's Bay and leave us there for 2 hours. Ok!
Eat eat eat
Castaway Cay - chill. Try and convince Lynn she doesn't have to go back and pack. Maybe we can convince her to do it after PALO Thursday night.
Me and Darlene head to Budget, get vehicles. Take everyone or not? Either way people will be waiting.
Darlene drives Lynn and Stan to airport. I drive - back towards Disney. I doubt timeshare will be ready. Worst case scenario for directions: follow signs from airport to Disney then to downtown disney (535).
Maybe meet Darlene at Downtown Disney and head over to timeshare after some grocery shopping.
Chill and take it day by day going to Disney.
Wednesday afternoon: arrive to Coronado Springs Resort. Call Lynn, "We're here" and decide then. Unknown if to hang around resort and be lazy or venture to a park for evening. Either way, we'll see Lynn and Mary Thursday for sure.
Thursday: Go to whichever park Lynn and I want to go to: MGM or Epcot. Kids will be happy either way. Mid day break at WLV or CSR.
Friday: Go to another park. Which one I don't care. Pick up Darlene and Stan in evening. Time escapes me. Perhaps leave Victoria with Lynn for maximum fun time. Might be tight if I take both girls.
Maybe plan a quickie late night swim at Coronado Springs Resort? Reunion of sorts.
Saturday: Lynn drives over to Coronado Springs Resort. We load up cars including Stan with Lynn. God help us if I forgot GPS. I really rely on it. Not to worry, I'm sure Stan's gadget phone will have a GPS.
Easy drive to port. Drop off All kids, Darlene and Stan and luggage, follow signs out to main road where Budget rental is right there. (memory says: left and left)
Take shuttle from Budget to port. Meet Stan and Darlene with kids. Stan and Darlene will have an early boarding number. Maybe they should try and get 2 of them and pretend like they are single parents. This will alleviate questions if our boarding group is too large. Worst case: I have a boarding number 11 somewhere from last cruise.
HELLO Sandy and Jess!
Go to Parrot Cay because it's easier to stow your stuff.
Eat, eat and eat.
Wander off ship in St. Thomas, take taxi to Aquarium. Hang at beach, taxi back to ship whether together or separate (it's your vacation, you do what ya wanna do!)
Eat, eat and eat.
Wander off ship in Tortola - hey taxi, take us to Brewer's Bay and leave us there for 2 hours. Ok!
Eat eat eat
Castaway Cay - chill. Try and convince Lynn she doesn't have to go back and pack. Maybe we can convince her to do it after PALO Thursday night.
Me and Darlene head to Budget, get vehicles. Take everyone or not? Either way people will be waiting.
Darlene drives Lynn and Stan to airport. I drive - back towards Disney. I doubt timeshare will be ready. Worst case scenario for directions: follow signs from airport to Disney then to downtown disney (535).
Maybe meet Darlene at Downtown Disney and head over to timeshare after some grocery shopping.
Chill and take it day by day going to Disney.
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Two weeks
My last post was 100 posts on this blog. That's a little more dedicated than I would have guessed I'd be to this blog.
I do love my vacations. I certainly spend enough time planning and going on them but it's the anticipation of them which is most delicious. Our typical drive-to April vacations are like an appetizer to the delicious summer course. Next summer we are hoping for something new and extra special. I just spotted the school calendar for next year so I'm ready to plan the April vacation too.
It looks like we may have come to a decision on what to do on the islands this summer - a whole lot of nothing. I don't know if it's been a tough year for the entire group, but we all agree we aren't really interested in any eco-hike, zipping, mangrove adventures or city tours on foot in 90 degree weather. We are looking for umbrellas, sand, snorkeling for the kids while we have fruity drinks in hand. Island life in an afternoon. We're so spoiled, we think of this upcoming cruise as 'only' being seven days. Poor us. No 14 day cruise for us this summer.
My plan is to get the piles in order this weekend. This will be the clothes we intend to take on vacation. I'm going to try and keep in mind this upcoming vacation will require very little clothing as far as dinners go. We'll be spending about 10 days park hopping and out in the sun so shorts and t shirts are in order.
I usually have big plans for drinking while on vacation. The reality is, I don't enjoy drinking in the heat or sun. I like coffee. Iced coffee, gourmet hot coffee, morning coffee. Don't bother sticking anything alcoholic in my coffee either. But I am thinking a mojito while sitting on deck would sure taste nice today. The heat has really kicked in long enough for me to drag the air conditioner into the window only for it to cool down.
Two weeks from today we head down to Florida and we'll be hanging with Lynn and Mary! We haven't seen them since February!
I do love my vacations. I certainly spend enough time planning and going on them but it's the anticipation of them which is most delicious. Our typical drive-to April vacations are like an appetizer to the delicious summer course. Next summer we are hoping for something new and extra special. I just spotted the school calendar for next year so I'm ready to plan the April vacation too.
It looks like we may have come to a decision on what to do on the islands this summer - a whole lot of nothing. I don't know if it's been a tough year for the entire group, but we all agree we aren't really interested in any eco-hike, zipping, mangrove adventures or city tours on foot in 90 degree weather. We are looking for umbrellas, sand, snorkeling for the kids while we have fruity drinks in hand. Island life in an afternoon. We're so spoiled, we think of this upcoming cruise as 'only' being seven days. Poor us. No 14 day cruise for us this summer.
My plan is to get the piles in order this weekend. This will be the clothes we intend to take on vacation. I'm going to try and keep in mind this upcoming vacation will require very little clothing as far as dinners go. We'll be spending about 10 days park hopping and out in the sun so shorts and t shirts are in order.
I usually have big plans for drinking while on vacation. The reality is, I don't enjoy drinking in the heat or sun. I like coffee. Iced coffee, gourmet hot coffee, morning coffee. Don't bother sticking anything alcoholic in my coffee either. But I am thinking a mojito while sitting on deck would sure taste nice today. The heat has really kicked in long enough for me to drag the air conditioner into the window only for it to cool down.
Two weeks from today we head down to Florida and we'll be hanging with Lynn and Mary! We haven't seen them since February!
Thursday, July 23, 2009
On Monday, I took Victoria and a few of her friends to Lake Compounce as Victoria's birthday party. Lots of excitement and some drama happened before the big day. I picked the girls up and headed to the park. While in the car, the girls sang off key to songs on the radio, played games on an Ipod touch with the speaker loud, and phone calls all at the same time. They were so loud I completely missed an exit. I even had the GPS on.
One of the girls had never, ever been to an amusement park. I found it hard to believe. I kept checking to be sure she had not forgotten a trip made long ago. She insisted she had never been to an amusement park. After getting off one of the rides, the girls told us how there were kids on the ride screaming the F word and telling everyone to shut up. When I pressed a bit, it sounds like they were telling my child to shut up because she was screaming her head off. That sounded about right. I told the girls not to worry about the profanity and it sounded like some kids were just being obnoxious while not being supervised. Somehow this comment led to a debate on which one of them could be the most obnoxious. Somehow this led to a group hug of sorts, probably to prove none of us matched the level of obnoxiousness of those on the Wild Cat.
For the most part, the girls were respectful of their parents, particularly their mothers. One girl is very impressed her mother can do anything while driving: read a book, add numbers, eat lunch. It was nice to know we parents haven't yet been cast off to the Isle of Misfits.
All of the kids use AOL AIM's program to communicate. It's a social networking site with more parental controls than others. I check Victoria's regularly to be sure I know what is going on. Hopefully I do. I learned the kids all have at least two AIM names, one their parents know about and another which is secret. It's these other names, the ones the parents are unaware of, where the status messages are quite cruel. I've looked over Victoria's shoulder to spot some interesting status messages, including a few about Victoria. Some of the messages are something like, "So-n-So is a bitch and needs deodorant." So if your kid uses AIM, you might want to check how many AIM accounts they hold.
Another birthday survived!
One of the girls had never, ever been to an amusement park. I found it hard to believe. I kept checking to be sure she had not forgotten a trip made long ago. She insisted she had never been to an amusement park. After getting off one of the rides, the girls told us how there were kids on the ride screaming the F word and telling everyone to shut up. When I pressed a bit, it sounds like they were telling my child to shut up because she was screaming her head off. That sounded about right. I told the girls not to worry about the profanity and it sounded like some kids were just being obnoxious while not being supervised. Somehow this comment led to a debate on which one of them could be the most obnoxious. Somehow this led to a group hug of sorts, probably to prove none of us matched the level of obnoxiousness of those on the Wild Cat.
For the most part, the girls were respectful of their parents, particularly their mothers. One girl is very impressed her mother can do anything while driving: read a book, add numbers, eat lunch. It was nice to know we parents haven't yet been cast off to the Isle of Misfits.
All of the kids use AOL AIM's program to communicate. It's a social networking site with more parental controls than others. I check Victoria's regularly to be sure I know what is going on. Hopefully I do. I learned the kids all have at least two AIM names, one their parents know about and another which is secret. It's these other names, the ones the parents are unaware of, where the status messages are quite cruel. I've looked over Victoria's shoulder to spot some interesting status messages, including a few about Victoria. Some of the messages are something like, "So-n-So is a bitch and needs deodorant." So if your kid uses AIM, you might want to check how many AIM accounts they hold.
Another birthday survived!
Thursday, July 16, 2009
It's hard to believe I am the mother of a twelve year old child. Before I had a child, while I was pregnant, and all of these years I never really looked at what being the mother of a twelve year old meant. I imagined the day she graduated from high school, college or even when she achieves her advanced degree. I've fantasized about which prom dress and wedding gown style she'll choose.
If I've given all of this so much thought, why did it not occur to me I'd be mothering a moody twelve year old? She'll spend hours doing her hair all the while needing to wipe the milk off her face. If I happen to mention the milk, I'll be met with a huff or pout.
She informed me she is too old to wear Disney bathing suits. She's willing to wear one to Disney but not in front of her friends at home.
Am I discouraging her from good grammar by allowing her AIM access and texting devices? I received a text today, "Wat time r u pickin me up'. It seems wrong.
I don't know if I'm going to make it through the pre-teen phase!
If I've given all of this so much thought, why did it not occur to me I'd be mothering a moody twelve year old? She'll spend hours doing her hair all the while needing to wipe the milk off her face. If I happen to mention the milk, I'll be met with a huff or pout.
She informed me she is too old to wear Disney bathing suits. She's willing to wear one to Disney but not in front of her friends at home.
Am I discouraging her from good grammar by allowing her AIM access and texting devices? I received a text today, "Wat time r u pickin me up'. It seems wrong.
I don't know if I'm going to make it through the pre-teen phase!
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