The Chit Chat Chit Chat Thread

[Dinglehopper86]

You can say that again. Change is so hard. This has been one crazy year. Sheesh. Yup, thinking Food and Wine might be best. I mean, knowing me, why am I even considering anything else. thanks for the nice thoughts.

Wish I could do Food and Wine but it is pretty much in the beginning of the school year and for a teacher that doesn't work.

 

[Dinglehopper86]

Out for me, have fun this evening everyone. xoxo Bet's And nice dreams. This weather is making me sleepy.

Good Night Bets.

 

[Gabe1]

I'm unfamiliar with UNI transportation. Do they get you from the airport. Or is it the internal transportation?

As far as I know they do not do airport to resort transportation. We always take a towncar from MCO to Uni and towncar to Disney for the second half of the trip.

I love the transportation by boat to the parks/City Walk. It is a hub. You go to the dock, board boat it drops you to a central hub and you can either go to City Walk, mini golf, or either park. It reminds me of Disneyland, you don't waste a lot of time getting to the parks and if you hop it is mere minutes or you can easily pop out of the parks go back to your resort swim and be back at the parks or City Walk for a meal.

The map is the best I can find but Uni uses their waterways to transport guests from the resorts to the parks. The back up for severe weather is buses but I've never been on one of their buses. We stay at the Portofino (bottom right) board the boat, sometimes add guests at Hard Rock in off hours and then it dumps you off at the parks and or City Walk.

 

[donaldtoo]

This never gets old.

Hahaaa...!
Yep, I LOVE it...!!!!!

 

[donaldtoo]

It was strange in my family. Dad listened to Old Time Country (Willie Nelson...), Mom was into the music of her youth like Beach Boys, and my sister was a rocker (Metallica). I guess I ended up liking lots of music.

Oh, Willie...!!!

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willie's_Reserve

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

Wish I could do Food and Wine but it is pretty much in the beginning of the school year and for a teacher that doesn't work.

Last year I took my two personal days and we did a long weekend in November. We got to do Food and Wine (it's last weekend) and Mickeys Very Merry Christmas party. It was great! So it can be done for teachers. The trip was a surprise, I surprised my husband four days before we left. He knew we were going away but he thought it was to Minneapolis. It was such fun to surprise him!

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

Oh, Willie...!!!

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willie's_Reserve

Yeah, I don't think my dad liked that part of Willie Nelson!

 

[donaldtoo]

What the heck? We are at $2.35, and that is the "cheap" station.

Woof. Sympathy like.

 

[donaldtoo]

Yeah, I don't think my dad liked that part of Willie Nelson!

Hahaaa...!
Yea, I'm not a fan of the stuff myself (and yes, I tried it way more than once back in the day - always turned me into a veg), but, to each their own.

 

[Dinglehopper86]

Last year I took my two personal days and we did a long weekend in November. We got to do Food and Wine (it's last weekend) and Mickeys Very Merry Christmas party. It was great! So it can be done for teachers. The trip was a surprise, I surprised my husband four days before we left. He knew we were going away but he left it was to Minneapolis. It was such fun to surprise him!

My girlfriend teaches at the same High School as me(that is how we met)so even though it would be possible I don't know if the administration would be very pleased if two of there teachers would be taking personal days at the exact same time.

 

[Gabe1]

When I was a pre-teen/teen we went to Universal a couple times (before Islands of Adventure was built). It was okay, but we preferred Disney more. And now-a-days I am just more connected to Disney characters and storytelling and not so much to Universal owned characters and stories. I'm sure Universal is very nice, but I just want to stay in the bubble.

I understand. It is all in what we want and none of us want the same things from our vacations. I felt the same way, I was to Uni Florida early on too and wasn't impressed, that is why we never left Disney property with our kids. I've been going to Disney Parks for over 50 years since I was 1 1/2 years old and for the opening of WDW. I still enjoy Disneyland and Uni California too.

I look at the early years of Uni Florida like I did the Magic Kingdom the first years, it was a far cry from Disneyland but over the years we watched the Magic Kingdom continue to grow and become a quality park like Disneyland was to us. Seeing the struggles of WDW initially is likely why I was open to Uni Florida having time to also develop. Still if our convention resort wasn't Uni it might have taken me a few more years to go back.

 

[Dinglehopper86]

This girl is calling it a night and going to relax in bed before falling asleep. Talk with everyone tomorrow. Have a Magical night everyone.

 

[donaldtoo]

Only one picture? For the day?! My husband would love traveling with you! He used to get a little perturbed with my constant picture taking, now he jokes about it. But now since I got an article published on another Disney blog site, I just tell him it is for future articles!

Hahaaa...! Awesome, and congrats!
You Disney Lifestyler, you...!!!!!

 

[betty rose]

Yes, thank you Betty Rose.
I am getting excited for our upcoming trip to WDW in just a few weeks. Hope all is well with you too.

We are great and going to Disney in 58 days. I can't wait!

 

[Gabe1]

I will go back to Uni for HP again when they add something new. I have never stayed at a Uni Resort so I cannot comment on that, but my experiences at Disney Resorts have always been extremely pleasant.

I was also a kid in the 90's and I agree Disney was on the ball back then. Now they seem to have lost it when it comes to new ideas. Kids who frequent WDW/DL every year have to get bored with it. I myself could not even do that. I have only been to WDW three times in my life and they were all after the age of 21. My parents were not really into vacations to amusement parks. If a child does come into my life I will not take them every year. Instead I will expose them to many different vacation spots. That way when we do go back to Disney Parks it won't be all the same things.

I can't say my kids ever got bored with Disney. It was a perfect place for us to vacation. My kids were 5 years apart in age and it lent itself to pleasing everyone, something that is hard to do when kids ages and interests don't match up well. We'd go for at least one 2 week vacation a year, sometimes two, always excited to go but sad to leave. We still all have that major soft spot for Disney. Still we have a fondness for Uni now too and enjoy there too. Still they grew up Disney and that is where our memories are. I look at Uni as the bonus days.

 

[betty rose]

I also love Historical places such as Gettysburg and Williamsburg. I also love visiting National landmarks like The Grand Canyon and Niagara Falls. I also plan on going on a Disney Cruise at some point in the near future.

We have gone on RCL. The Oasis Class Boats, so fun...lots to do .....zip line, rock climbing wall, on board water skiing simulator. Comedy clubs. Many kinds of musical clubs at night. All kinds of music. Classic, jazz, contemporary, etc. Cheaper than Disney, and more adult kind of boat. I like Disney and this too, for a change. Zika kept us out of our Caribbean Cruise this year. We will travel, on RCL in the Pacific next year. A repositoning cruise is cheaper too!

 

[donaldtoo]

Happy doughnut Saturday!
View attachment 154879

The dog was super excited as we haven't gone to get doughnuts for a couple weeks. And she get her dog treat at the coffee shop too. She actually stood up against the window in the car until the girl at the drive-thru window asked if she wanted a dog treat. Then she got down and was all ready for her treat in the backseat.

Oh my!
That was for the donuts, and not the dog treat.
But, in a pinch...!

 

[StarWarsGirl]

A few quick Disney notes:

The renovated the rooms at BCV, finally. In case you were wondering, they are no longer ugly. Quite beautiful and nice to be in now, and they have USB charging stations, which is fantastic. The studios also have a pull down bed, so we no longer need to bring the air mattress for my brother. The TVs are also fantastic. We want one for at home. Only complaint is the locks on the bathrooms are still the same (useless).

I know a few people had voiced concerns about going back through MK security after going back for a nap or afternoon swim. We've gone in anywhere between 4-6pm, and usually, there were very few people going through security. Sometimes, we would walk right up to bag check. I wouldn't worry about security if you're planning an afternoon break.

Lines at DHS have been much better lately. The most I saw today was RNRC running 60 minutes. TofT at one point was down to 20, but was mostly running 30-40. TSM was running 40-50 minutes. Do Star Tours last; it runs 40 minutes during the day but is a walk on from about 6 pm on.

Get a FP for Frozen. Soarin' runs about 50 minutes during the day and isn't crowded at night. TT runs a bit higher, but also isn't terrible. Frozen runs anywhere from 90-120 minutes during the day, and the lowest wait I saw was 60 during EMH. BTW, at least try it. It is horribly misplaced, but the technology and the animatronics are amazing.

 

[donaldtoo]

Out for tonight, gang...
Still ketchuping, but, still sooo far behind...!
The sweetest of silly Disney dreams to one and all...!!!
Laterrrrrrr...!!!!!

 

[betty rose]

That is exactly what I am talking about Bets. All of that is the special magic of WDW. I have been many other places and it is just not at those other places.

We need an easy vacation, at this time of our life. And we have gone to Disney since it opened. A lot of wonderful memories there. We took our daughter, when she was two. She loves Disney too. Has a web sight and has written a few books. She is going next month to do more for her web sight. She pay's her way, and gets nothing from Disney, to my knowledge. She just's loves the place. Our grand sons do too. I guess we have been a Disney family for a long time. We bought into the DVC, when hubby's parent's passed and left us enough money to do that. We thought that was the best way to honor them, they loved vacation's. We go in June, with the DVC and pay for one more week. That will be coming to an end this year, but we have built up a ton of memories. I remember the oldest grand son loving small world, he was three. His eyes lit up like saucers. He loved Disney at Christmas. I danced with him in Hollywood Studios, to Felice Navidad. (sp). He was 4 at the time. Kids, make Disney extra special. I fed our second grandson, outside of Space ship Earth, while the parents took the oldest one on Space ship earth. Those times are so special for me. Disney made those happen.