The Chit Chat Chit Chat Thread

[Goofyernmost]

Wow, that is so awesome!!!! What was it for? I often consider getting another degree, but my schedule right now doesn't give me much free time.

She went for a PhD in Gerontology. Since she was in that category already I guess they felt she would do well. Unfortunately, due to illness she was unable to complete it. She got to starting her Dissertation, but, was unable to complete it. So 3 years and $30,000.00 in debt with nothing to show for it. I shouldn't say that because she ended up with a Masters in Nursing (in her 50's) and a Masters in Gerontology.

Just as a side note... My youngest daughter is currently working on her Masters in Business on-line. She is 42 has a full time job in management with a college funding company and a 16 year old son along with a rapidly badly aging father. It can be done, but, it is not easy.

 

[MySmallWorldof4]

She went for a PhD in Gerontology. Since she was in that category already I guess they felt she would do well. Unfortunately, due to illness she was unable to complete it. She got to starting her Dissertation, but, was unable to complete it. So 3 years and $30,000.00 in debt with nothing to show for it. I shouldn't say that because she ended up with a Masters in Nursing (in her 50's) and a Masters in Gerontology.

Just as a side note... My youngest daughter is currently working on her Masters in Business on-line. She is 42 has a full time job in management with a college funding company and a 16 year old son along with a rapidly badly aging father. It can be done, but, it is not easy.

Good luck to your daughter! It sure is hard balancing life as an adult with a hard school program.

 

[DryerLintFan]

I think it is very cute. Definitely not for a family of 6, but for your small family it seems perfect. It is a great price too! I would totally get that if I still had a tiny family and wanted to take a lot of Disney trips. Way more affordable than DVC and you own it. That cost of that camper is like two 7 day stays at a deluxe.

We've been talking about it since last May. I always get the itch to go camping in May and it almost never works out. Last May the temps were okay when we left home. We drove about an hour south west to this beautiful park, checked in at the camp office, and drove around to the camp site. As we were pulling out the tent, it started lightly raining. Rain definitely wasn't in the forecast so we thought, okay, its a drizzle, no big deal, it won't last long because it wasn't in the forecast.

But then the skies opened up, and it poured. The temps dropped 15 degrees (down to about 45*) and monsoon level water was falling from the sky. So I'm crawling back into the car with the baby who is hysterically crying because both her parents are stressed and the rain is super loud on the car. I'm rocking her back and forth as she's screaming that the rain is hurting her daddy, who is still outside trying to set up the tent. He got it about halfway setup when we realized that the tent was flooded because it was storming so badly when we were setting it up. The tent was flooded and sitting in a small lake.

So we checked the radar. This unforecasted rain couldn't last long, right?!!?! Wrong. It was supposed to last all night long. There was no way we were going to be able to set up camp, dry out the tent, and feed the kid, much less get everyone cozy and warm enough to sleep since the temps dropped. So we packed up and headed home, instead. The rain was so bad that we couldn't see more than 20ft or so in front of our lights. It took us almost twice the amount of time to get home and parts of the road were flooded.

So we started talking about getting a camper after that trip. All the camping trips I plan, I have to plan with just the kid and I because my husband takes a lot of last minute business trips and can't come with us most of the time. There's no way I could have done anything to save that trip even with my husband there, much less alone with a small child. I missed out on a lot of camping last season because I just couldn't manage alone. This camper will fix so many of those issues.

The Disney trips will just be an added benefit

 

[Figgy1]

Depends on the cruise line. But food, booze, and more food. DCL provides all beverages except for alcohol. But they let you bring two 750ml wine bottles per passenger on board. I believe others have some type of drink package you can purchase. All cruises should have onboard activities - rock climbing, golf, basketball, stuff like that. And bars/nightclubs. If you want to gamble, don't do Disney. But Disney has activity centers for kids up through teens - so you can dump the annoying 14 year old and go take that mixology or wine tasting class, lol.

I'd check to see who cruises out of NYC and go from there.

We love cruising. Very relaxing way to travel.

If we go on a cruise there won't be any kids with us to dump

 

[DryerLintFan]

If we go on a cruise there won't be any kids with us to dump

I like your style!

 

[Figgy1]

Also thinking if we do a just us short get away 4 days at the new hotel at UNI in August. Seriously thinking about booking room only just in case

 

[Figgy1]

I like your style!

Just us will involve getting one of the grandmas to come up here because James will have music at that time.

 

[Mr Ferret 75]

If we go on a cruise there won't be any kids with us to dump

It's how we roll also ...

 

[LAKid53]

Also thinking if we do a just us short get away 4 days at the new hotel at UNI in August. Seriously thinking about booking room only just in case

Uni's building a 6th hotel? Or are you talking about Sapphire Falls? Looks really nice from the outside. And you can take the boat over to City Walk. No bus dropping you off at the garage security area. Unfortunately, Sapphire Falls rooms don't include unlimited Express Pass like Royal Pacific, Portofino and Hard Rock. Nor does it have suites.

 

[Cesar R M]

It depends on the cruise, honestly. But usually it includes a lot of relaxing and pool time, all the food you can eat (but not from the fancy restaurants), fun shows, a casino, and most cruises offer vouchers when you book them. Like when I booked mine I got free booze vouchers.

Agree, each resort Cruise was different.

Royal charged for everything apart from the restaurant drinks and food. So if you wanted soda outside the restaurants, you could get charged. But they sell prepaid packages.
DCL had everything included except booze.

 

[Figgy1]

Uni's building a 6th hotel? Or are you talking about Sapphire Falls? Looks really nice from the outside. And you can take the boat over to City Walk. No bus dropping you off at the garage security area. Unfortunately, Sapphire Falls rooms don't include unlimited Express Pass like Royal Pacific, Portofino and Hard Rock. Nor does it have suites.

Yes it will be open in August. It's a value but won't need EP in late August just early entry so we'll roll with that if we go also won't be taking kids if we go there either. Everything is up in the air. One ds has a summer music program and dh may be back on nights, so we won't be able to plan anything ahead. That kills Disney for the next couple of years for us.

 

[Cesar R M]

There are a rew campers like yours on there just need to find them.

Seems like a huge upgrade to a tent. Considering all the things that it allows.
And the "arming" seems pretty simple, having Ac..etc..

I'm not a fan of having to set down a tent with pikes, poles..etc..

 

[Cesar R M]

The biggest problem you may have is finding vegan food. I was full vegan when we took our Disney cruise in 2015. There were some options, but not a ton. Your family would for sure enjoy all the food. Dh didn't enjoy the cruise though, but for Castaway Cay. He felt like there were too many people onboard and there was no room to breathe. We had one of the bigger rooms, I think it was an 8a cabin. They have way more room than a regular family cabin and sleep 4. We had 2 rooms which increases the price considerably. I say the Disney cruises are more affordable when there are 5 or less people in one group, so that you only need the one room. Nonetheless, many of the other cruise lines are cheaper. Dh also didn't like the sit down dinners. He would have preferred the choice of a buffet for every meal.

Why she didnt like the sit down dinners? the variety or the hassle to check every menu every day?

 

[Cesar R M]

I think it is very cute. Definitely not for a family of 6, but for your small family it seems perfect. It is a great price too! I would totally get that if I still had a tiny family and wanted to take a lot of Disney trips. Way more affordable than DVC and you own it. That cost of that camper is like two 7 day stays at a deluxe.

And that camper can be used elsewhere too, not just disney.

For someone like me, id love to have something a bit bigger with toilet and shower to move around the country easily

 

[Songbird76]

Yeah.... women are the worst Before you get pregnant it's all "new baby smell" and "natural high" and "reason for living" and "you'll never have experienced a love so strong" and "pregnancy glow". Then when you get pregnant and things start happening, it's all "oh yeah, that's totally normal and happened to me too!!". Leg muscles painfully seizing and spasming in the middle of the night? Normal. Can't go #2 for a week straight? Normal. Can't walk up half a flight of stairs without an asthma like breathing attack? Normal. Shooting pains like someone is literally stabbing you in your naughty bits? Normal. Acne worse than when you were a teenager? Totally normal! Forgetting every single thing ever? Normal. Hair falling out for months after birth? Somehow that's normal! And about a million other painful or embarrassing things. Thanks for the heads up, ladies

Ha!! When I was in college, my last semester before doing student teaching, we had a 4 hour pedagogy class every day and one of the girls got pregnant and was so sick that she kept passing out all over the place from lack of nutrition...she couldn't keep anything down. Our professor told us all sorts of things about pregnancy, including the memory loss...I thought she was kidding or exaggerating...UNTIL I got pregnant with my first. Now I know she was completely serious. I used to have a REALLY good memory, now I forget to replace the toilet paper roll, even though I just emptied it 10 seconds before. It's SOOOO bad!!

 

[Cesar R M]

Uni's building a 6th hotel? Or are you talking about Sapphire Falls? Looks really nice from the outside. And you can take the boat over to City Walk. No bus dropping you off at the garage security area. Unfortunately, Sapphire Falls rooms don't include unlimited Express Pass like Royal Pacific, Portofino and Hard Rock. Nor does it have suites.

Sapphire Falls is more like a moderate right?

So making this the combination that finally fills all levels like Disney.
From Deluxe (portofino, Royal, Hard rock)
Middle: Sapphire Falls
Economy: Cabana Bay

 

[Songbird76]

And they're taller.

The differences end there.

Well, I would hope they'd be potty-trained by the teenage years.

 

[LAKid53]

Sapphire Falls is more like a moderate right?

So making this the combination that finally fills all levels like Disney.
From Deluxe (portofino, Royal, Hard rock)
Middle: Sapphire Falls
Economy: Cabana Bay

Ranking per Universal:

Premier: Hard Rock, Porofino
Preferred: Royal Pacific, Sapphire Falls
Prime Value: Adventura, Cabana Bay

The high end Disney Deluxes would be Portofino and Hard Rock

Mid range Deluxe would be Royal Pacific and Sapphire Falls

The new hotel Adventura has rooms as big as GF - 315 sq ft for standard, 385 sq ft for deluxe. And a kid's suite. It's geared towards conventions, so I'd compare to Coronodo Springs

Frankly, I'd considered Cabana Bay a high end value (what renovated Pop is becoming) or low end Moderate, like CBR. The food court and amenities at Cabana Bay exceed any of the Disney Values.

And all of the Universal hotels have some type of suite. The original 3 Lowe's also have club level.

 

[LAKid53]

Yes it will be open in August. It's a value but won't need EP in late August just early entry so we'll roll with that if we go also won't be taking kids if we go there either. Everything is up in the air. One ds has a summer music program and dh may be back on nights, so we won't be able to plan anything ahead. That kills Disney for the next couple of years for us.

Uni may considered it a Value, but it's no Value. Big rooms, kids' suite, convention space. Frankly, it may be a Contemporary without the level of restaurants. Rooms range from 315 - 385 sq feet.

 

[Figgy1]

Uni may considered it a Value, but it's no Value. Big rooms, kids' suite, convention space. Frankly, it may be a Contemporary without the level of restaurants. Rooms range from 315 - 385 sq feet.

I saw that and 5 day 3 park to park tickets are 304 there. Priced Disney cheapest place dh will stay at 155 per night and 363 for base tickets for and 436 for hoppers OUCH