working out for Disney

[Songbird76]

I really haven't been following the Genie+ thing too much because those types of threads attract the resident obnoxious know it alls and the drama they love to create. But I think you can book your rides once you are in the parks if you are staying off site. You can do that at 7 AM if you are on site. But you get an entire 30 minutes of park time before the park opens to every one else. They took away EMH for all levels of resort except deluxe and villas for now. (Someone posted they were glad they did that so he wouldn't have to be around "All Stars people." Wow, jerk much?) I like staying on site and my preference is for the crescent lake resorts. But it's getting harder for me to justify the price. I'm not trying to be negative, but I don't see the difference in service between Disney hotels and regular hotels I've stayed at in my non-Disney travels. I don't think there is a "Disney difference" anymore.

I am sure once this genie+ thing is up and running, we'll see more them introduce more variations on its usage.

All the info I've gotten on Genie+ has pretty much been from Disney Food Blog. I don't venture into most of the forum outside chit chat or trip reports. But yes, that's my understanding, too...once you're in the park you can book if you stay off site, and on site guests can book at 7, but DFB also made it sound like that might only be the individual attractions available at 7, so I'm not sure about that. But either way, I'm thinking that there will still be SOME lightning lane times left for off site guests once they get to the parks. It will be a couple of years before I get to go again, so we'll probably know more how it works by then.

I agree, there doesn't seem to be a Disney difference. Off site hotels have really stepped up their game to compete and Disney hasn't really kept up with what made it special. I wasn't a huge fan of EMH anyway....my family is hard to drag out of bed in the morning. I'm always up hours before everyone else and then I have to sit there waiting for them to decide to get going, and if we make plans for the morning, my husband will likely either be grouchy the whole day, or he'll just decide we're not doing it. He's terrible about following through on a plan. Not just at Disney, but in general. He tells me what I want to hear, so if I say "Ok, I was thinking we should leave at 9, then we can swing by and grab some breakfast on the way and be at this place by 10:30." he'll SAY "Ok, sounds good", but in reality, I'll get up at 7 and shower and be ready to go and at 8:30 he's still lying in bed playing on the computer. Then when I say "Are you planning to shower before we leave?" he'll say "Yeah....we've got plenty of time.....it's only 8:30. We don't really need to be there until after lunch." I don't know if he just doesn't listen to me so he doesn't realize he agreed to leave at 9, or that he just said ok to shut me up and he never had any intention of actually leaving at 9. I have to say, and this is going to sound really bad, but I'm really looking forward to a Disney trip without him. As much as I love him, he's really not fun to do Disney with anymore. He's surly, he isn't willing to do anything extra like get up early or go out of our way to see something cool, he immediately forgets anything he loved so he swears he didn't enjoy anything....it will be nice to be able to make the plans without taking him into account, knowing E will be up for anything and we'll accomplish a LOT more, not to mention being able to just go with the flow more, and I won't have to worry about whether my husband is having fun. I won't feel obligated to skip things I want to do because he won't want to do it, and I won't have to plan a bunch of time separately just for him. If E and I want to go to Fort Wilderness for smores at the campfire, we can just go. There won't be any "I'm not leaving an hour and a half early just to eat a smore." or "I'm not going all the way to .....just because there's a different store there!" If we want to ride Soarin' one more time on our way out of the park, there won't be any "I'm going to take A back to the resort and you can give me another full day by myself in return for this half hour I'm giving you." It will be much more enjoyable with just E and I. The only thing I feel bad about is that A actually does like Disney, and it feels kind of unfair that he has to miss out. But anyway, we didn't use EMH much. I can get E out of bed when we make plans....we can make plans together and actually do them. But A would prefer just a couple of park days and the rest of the time to play on his computer, and my husband doesn't like getting up early on vacation. And not everything is open early anyway, right? Although, who knows if it's just E and I, we might actually do more rope dropping.

And wow.....yeah, definitely a jerk who said that. There are a couple of TRs I won't follow because the people have made fat shaming comments in the past, too, and I don't need to be judged when I'm thinking about my happy place.

 

[Sans Souci]

All the info I've gotten on Genie+ has pretty much been from Disney Food Blog. I don't venture into most of the forum outside chit chat or trip reports. But yes, that's my understanding, too...once you're in the park you can book if you stay off site, and on site guests can book at 7, but DFB also made it sound like that might only be the individual attractions available at 7, so I'm not sure about that. But either way, I'm thinking that there will still be SOME lightning lane times left for off site guests once they get to the parks. It will be a couple of years before I get to go again, so we'll probably know more how it works by then.

I agree, there doesn't seem to be a Disney difference. Off site hotels have really stepped up their game to compete and Disney hasn't really kept up with what made it special. I wasn't a huge fan of EMH anyway....my family is hard to drag out of bed in the morning. I'm always up hours before everyone else and then I have to sit there waiting for them to decide to get going, and if we make plans for the morning, my husband will likely either be grouchy the whole day, or he'll just decide we're not doing it. He's terrible about following through on a plan. Not just at Disney, but in general. He tells me what I want to hear, so if I say "Ok, I was thinking we should leave at 9, then we can swing by and grab some breakfast on the way and be at this place by 10:30." he'll SAY "Ok, sounds good", but in reality, I'll get up at 7 and shower and be ready to go and at 8:30 he's still lying in bed playing on the computer. Then when I say "Are you planning to shower before we leave?" he'll say "Yeah....we've got plenty of time.....it's only 8:30. We don't really need to be there until after lunch." I don't know if he just doesn't listen to me so he doesn't realize he agreed to leave at 9, or that he just said ok to shut me up and he never had any intention of actually leaving at 9. I have to say, and this is going to sound really bad, but I'm really looking forward to a Disney trip without him. As much as I love him, he's really not fun to do Disney with anymore. He's surly, he isn't willing to do anything extra like get up early or go out of our way to see something cool, he immediately forgets anything he loved so he swears he didn't enjoy anything....it will be nice to be able to make the plans without taking him into account, knowing E will be up for anything and we'll accomplish a LOT more, not to mention being able to just go with the flow more, and I won't have to worry about whether my husband is having fun. I won't feel obligated to skip things I want to do because he won't want to do it, and I won't have to plan a bunch of time separately just for him. If E and I want to go to Fort Wilderness for smores at the campfire, we can just go. There won't be any "I'm not leaving an hour and a half early just to eat a smore." or "I'm not going all the way to .....just because there's a different store there!" If we want to ride Soarin' one more time on our way out of the park, there won't be any "I'm going to take A back to the resort and you can give me another full day by myself in return for this half hour I'm giving you." It will be much more enjoyable with just E and I. The only thing I feel bad about is that A actually does like Disney, and it feels kind of unfair that he has to miss out. But anyway, we didn't use EMH much. I can get E out of bed when we make plans....we can make plans together and actually do them. But A would prefer just a couple of park days and the rest of the time to play on his computer, and my husband doesn't like getting up early on vacation. And not everything is open early anyway, right? Although, who knows if it's just E and I, we might actually do more rope dropping.

And wow.....yeah, definitely a jerk who said that. There are a couple of TRs I won't follow because the people have made fat shaming comments in the past, too, and I don't need to be judged when I'm thinking about my happy place.

I've never used the morning EMH. I just went to the evening ones. I have never been to a rope drop, either. Even if I get up early b/c of my insomnia, I still won't go to the parks that early. I like to have a leisurely morning--some breakfast, a swim in an empty pool and then go to the parks. I don't need to open and close the parks. I don't think I could! lol

Your husband sounds like my son! We will tell him we're going here, be ready at X time--and he's not ready. I was relieved not to have him on vacation. He would only go ride coasters at DHS and that was it. We were paying for adult tickets for him to sit around the hotel room to chat with friends or whatever. The last cruise the three of us went on, he just wanted to stay in the room and order room service. I am sure it will be much more fun on your next trip with just you and your daughter. Maybe when your son is a little older, you can bring him along, too. I don't know when you are going to WDW again, but you might want to think about putting a little $$$ for Lyft/Uber. I didn't need to use them that much on this trip, but it makes a big difference if you're going from one resort to another. It's one less thing to stress about and it gives you more time. It's also good when you just don't want to wait around for another bus.

 

[Songbird76]

I know math, history, English and science (every variety) are AP in her school. All are supposed to be prep for said exams, as well as core subject requirements implemented by the state and district. Ultimately, since they don't offer any kind of non-AP version of these classes...like AP vs. Honors vs. on level...any kid who is above average needs to take AP courses because they just don't offer anything else for our kids.

It's hard for me to have a real frame of reference here. Where I grew up in NJ, it seemed like every town was its own school district, so each school district had one high school. So, any funding was fed right back into the school I attended. The district we're in now has six high schools. I do see complaints here and there how some schools get more attention than others. The town we live in has two of those high schools. The other high school in our town is more highly rated, but it's larger (around 3,000 students). For that reason, some people zoned to that school request a change to our school, which has a better student to teacher ratio (1,900 students). On the flipside, some people change to the larger school because it can look a bit better on college transcripts. Both of our schools have nice facilities, so I can't really gripe about that, but the way these courses are offered is a concern. I know it's also not just our district. When we lived on the other side of the Houston area, the courses were this way as well, which leads me to believe that some moron in Austin decided this was a good plan.

You can take a mix of regular and AP classes, but it's sort of the kiss of death for a lot of kids. Not only does it not look good on your transcript (a C in AP counts more than an A in on level), it's a matter of the kind of kids that are in those on-level classes. While there are some kids in there who legitimately don't have the academic capabilities to perform in an AP class, you've also got the kids who just don't care...and act like it. So, now your kid's academics are suffering because of some of the deadbeat kids in her class. Let's be honest, it also exposes them to kids you'd never want in their social circles. As for kids that fail, I have no idea. I do know there are usually summer school opportunities and it's extremely rare for a kid to be held back a grade.

Do you know if the other high school has more levels than just on-level and AP? Would that school be a better fit? It was a huge adjustment for me mentally when I came here because high schools are set up SO differently. And I came from a tiny town where we had one school for all of junior high through high school (7-12), where the next town over had 2 junior highs (7-9) and 1 high school (10-12) and their high school was overcrowded but they had a powerhouse sports program and didn't want to build a 2nd school and split their sports teams into two and be less competitive, so they sent some overflow to our town starting in my senior year. They have since built a 2nd building, but call it "South Campus" so it's still the same school. But each of their junior high schools AND their high school buildings have an auditorium and a couple of gymnasiums so different teams can practice at the same time. We had no auditorium and 1 gymnasium for both junior high and high school sports. When I was in junior high basketball, we had to go to the elementary school to use the gym, and later they built a gym at the rec center so some sports teams used that as well. But when I was teaching, one of the aides in my school was invited to my home town for a concert for her neighbor girl who was part of the "overflow" who were bused to my town. So she was wandering around the school looking for the auditorium and couldn't find it. I said we didn't have one. She asked me where the concerts were held and I said "In the cafeteria" and she was shocked! The Gillette people had been told for years that we had all the facilities we could want and we were just a bunch of whiners who wanted more than Gillette had. All the funding went to Gillette. They had no idea that we didn't have an auditorium, or a track, or multiple gyms, etc.. Then I came here. Schools are divided by level. So you have multiple high schools in town, but rather than it being a zoning thing, you pick a school that offers your level. There are several different levels. There's even a level for kids who are really below average so they basically skip traditional education and go straight to job training in some trade. There are a couple of levels for below average where you do a lot of stuff more geared to a specific career along with very basic math, science and social studies classes, and then you have an average level, an honors level, and an AP level. It's so nice to have them split up that way. They get instruction in every class at their particular level. Granted there are always kids who do really well and kids who don't. E is at the top of her class, doing the AP level, but one of her friends in the AP level barely passes and isn't motivated at all. She should never have made it through last year, and probably not their 2nd year, either....Corona worked in her favor because they were a lot more lenient because of remote learning, so she didn't HAVE to be motivated. But anyway, you pick the school that meets your needs. E chose her school because it was the only one that had the dual immersion program, and it was the only one that has technasium. BUT, it's also the only one that DOESN'T have Gymnasium (it's the AP level plus Latin and Greek) and she would have had to take the train to Arhnem every day to have both Gymnasium and Dual immersion. But funding is based on enrollement. The schools get a certain amount per student, so they have to be competitive to recruit students to their schools and use the funding to build their programs. There's not really one school that's better than the others, it just depends on what programs you want. I really wish they'd move to a similar system in the US. The one-size-fits-all education is so obsolete. It really doesn't work for anyone! You've got some kids struggling just to pass, some who can't pass, some who are bored waiting for the others to catch up, and some who are so far ahead they can't even see the stragglers. None of them are getting the education that fits them....it's sad. But if the other school in your town offers more options than on-level and AP, maybe that would be a better fit for K? When does Sam move on to high school? Will she have this same issue? I don't know how it goes where you are, but I know when I was in school, and my daughter is the same way, yes we had classes with some kids my mom definitely didn't want me to associate with, but I wasn't involved in those circles. Those kids wanted nothing to do with me, and I wasn't particularly bothered by that...my friends were all more or less like me. We were the kids who did our homework, were respectful, got at least passing grades, etc. We weren't the kids hanging out in the parking lot smoking at lunch, skipping school to do drugs, etc...So even if K had some kids in her class that wouldn't necessarily be good influences on her, she wouldn't necessarily be traveling in the same circles outside of school. E's unmotivated friend is still a pretty good kid for all intents and purposes....she's just lazy. And it drives E nuts, so she's not emulating that behavior. You know K's personality, and I don't, so it's absolutely your call, but is K really easily influenced by others? Is she likely to join in with a group who's on the wrong track just because she has a couple of classes with them?

 

[Sans Souci]

Happy Friday.

I did a 60 minute yoga class from an app I am trying out for 30 days for free. I liked the class, but she was playing country music and she went to great lengths not to use the yoga poses names in Sanskrit. I mean, it was technically yoga, but it didn't feel like yoga. I don't expect every pose to be called out in Sanskrit, but I got confused because she was describing poses instead of just calling it out in Sanskrit. I think this was meant for people who want their yoga divorced from any hint of spirituality. They should call it "athletic yoga" or something. Maybe I am just a picky crabby pants, too. I'll try a few more classes over the upcoming days.

I am going out to eat tonight. My husband got a gift certificate from his old officemates before he transferred to NY. So, we are going to use it. I am hoping it's nice enough to eat outside later on, the temps dropped pretty sharply over night.

 

[Songbird76]

Exactly. We were fairly frequent visitors between 1985-1998 and there was never any need to stay onsite. There were no fastpasses, dining was sort of a luck thing, and outside of the monorail and ferry, you just parked and likely took a tram to the front of the park. It wasn't until a 1998 trip did I notice all of the Disney resort buses. That would also be the trip where our offsite hotel stranded us at Epcot. It's hard to miss all of the Disney buses when you're stuck waiting for hours.

The whole ADR thing has also created an environment where people book lodging to game the system. I have used a similar strategy for ADRs. I used to book around EMH, but with that being whittled away, we started to just use an end loaded approach for hard to get stuff. And when that stopped working, I started looking at ADRs the night before to see what good last minute drops I could snag. For our Dec 2017 trip, I spent months trying to get a well timed 'Ohana dinner. I didn't get it until the day before we wanted to eat there.

Honestly, while I am a licensed driver and can drive to the parks, I don't enjoy it. I think that's part of what made this last trip less magical. Our Epcot and HS days were fine, but MK and AK were me behind the wheel and it made it less enjoyable. While it's been over 23 years since it happened, I am still scarred from being stranded by our offsite hotel shuttle. A good friend of mine had something similar happen (different hotel). So, it makes me really apprehensive about all of it. I may be more willing to try if it's a Good Neighbor property. I do like Swan as well, but I have to keep an eye on their prices in all of this.

That's definitely the funny thing with Genie+. For the longest time, people have argued (and rightly so) that the most expensive lodging options Disney offers aren't truly luxury. I could stay at the Four Seasons in July for $585 a nt. The Grand Floridian for the same dates is $791-794 a night. A bit farther, but in the same price point as the Four Seasons is the Ritz Carlton at $509 a nt. Here's my pick...the Waldorf Astoria, about 1.5 miles farther than the Four Seasons, but about 5 miles closer than the Ritz and it's only $252 a night. The Waldorf also has the Bull & Bear restaurant, which supposedly beats the heck out of every steakhouse on Disney property. So, that's a 5-star resort, only 3.15 miles off property, with a nightly rate below all of the Disney deluxe resorts, all of the Disney moderate resorts, and even below value Pop Century and AOA's Little Mermaid rooms. Obviously, their shuttle probably doesn't run as often as Disney's buses, but they have one for the parks and Disney Springs. I still would be bugged that my Disney park tickets previously included FastPasses at no extra charge, but I can get behind having to buy into Genie+ a bit better if I'm getting superior lodging at a much better price. At least that would make it feel like less of a fleecing. I guess now we just sit back and watch to see how the public responds to these changes.

I'm totally with you on all of that. How did you get stranded at Epcot? Did the shuttle just not show up? Did you end up having to call a taxi? We stayed with friends in 2010, and it was fine, except my friend's husband stayed up late and then slept really really late and my friend doesn't really drive since she was hit by a drunk driver and has PTSD. So we were completely at her husband's mercy for when he woke up and was ready to take us to the park. Plus, my husband especially didn't really like the husband. He's nice, but he's one of those who thinks his knowledge of everything is always superior, so he'll ask you what your plan is and then tell you why you should do this instead. You want to do Epcot this day? No, you should go to AK, because it has this and that and bla bla bla. You want to rent a car? No, you shouldn't rent one, because it's so much more expensive and I can drive you wherever you need to go. Oh, you should never fly with a smaller airline, because...... Then in 2016 we decided to stay on property so we didn't have to deal with all that. But so I didn't hurt my friend's feelings, we stayed with her for a couple of days at the end of our trip. We still had valid tickets, but didn't need to go to the park every day. We ended up only getting to go one day because her husband had gotten a job delivering pizza and was working the whole time and unavailable to take us to the parks. They live in kissimmee, so a taxi was too expensive. The one day he did drive us to the parks, he wasn't ready to go until around 11am and he was supposed to work until 9 so he'd pick us up after work. We went to the Poly for him to pick us up because the pickup point for ubers and such was so far from the park, where he could just pick us up at the entrance at the poly. And then we sat there and waited and waited and waited. He had been asked to work late and took an extra shift and we had to sit and wait at the Poly until like 1 am. And my friend got a "service dog" (I use quotes, because she calls it a service dog, but she hasn't been well trained. She's huge and aggressive and kept lunging at A, so we had to keep her chained up while we stayed there so she couldn't reach him, and she lunged at a server at Whispering Canyon when we all went to dinner one night.) So this last trip, we opted not to stay there at all, but we visited for one day and she boarded the dog for that day. But I really fell in love with the convenience of staying on property and having the transportation without relying on someone else's schedule. It was great. That was really the main draw in staying on property, and then I learned of the other perks, like making ADRs sooner. It worked out well because they had DME, so we didn't need to rent a car at all, we could get wherever we needed to go, we didn't just stick to the parks, M could have a beer with dinner...it was perfect. But now DME is ending, so you have to pay for that or rent a car and then pay the overnight parking fee, and Genie+ is replacing fastpasses and there's no early booking window with on-property stays, there are no EMH unless you stay at a deluxe, which we can't afford, and prices keep going up and you can even stay in a luxury hotel for the same price that you stay in a moderate on-property....there's just not much incentive to stay on property anymore. You can still use the Disney transportation to get around on property, and most of the hotels in the area offer shuttles, and if you are willing to use Uber or Lyft sometimes, you don't have to rely on the Disney buses or transportation like boats and skyliner that shut down in bad weather, or might be running late, and you'll probably still save money. Though I do have to say, we stayed at a hotel in Orlando for the night before our flights because we did Universal after Disney, so we didn't have DME back to the airport and had a rental car to return. That hotel was ok for a night, but the bed was really uncomfortable and the facilities were lacking. I wouldn't want to stay there for more than a night or two. It was cheap, but that's about all that could be said for it. But we stayed at Double Tree in between Disney and Universal and that was great....dark rooms, but they were clean, there was a pool, laundry facilities, and there was a village inn right across the street where we ate breakfast every morning and it worked out really well for us staying there...I'd stay there again in a heartbeat. And they actually granted my request for a ground floor room, where Disney has never yet granted ANY of my requests for dining, room requests, etc. I've never gotten a fireworks view table, or a window table at Sanaa, or ground floor room at CBR, or adjoining rooms with my brother's family, etc. Off-property resorts seem to be a lot more accommodating than Disney ones.

Do you get the advanced ADR booking window at Swolphin? I know you get the EMH there, but can you book ADRs for up to 10 days as soon as your window opens? And can you have things sent to your resort for pick up when you buy things in the park and don't want to carry them around with you?

 

[Songbird76]

I've never used the morning EMH. I just went to the evening ones. I have never been to a rope drop, either. Even if I get up early b/c of my insomnia, I still won't go to the parks that early. I like to have a leisurely morning--some breakfast, a swim in an empty pool and then go to the parks. I don't need to open and close the parks. I don't think I could! lol

Your husband sounds like my son! We will tell him we're going here, be ready at X time--and he's not ready. I was relieved not to have him on vacation. He would only go ride coasters at DHS and that was it. We were paying for adult tickets for him to sit around the hotel room to chat with friends or whatever. The last cruise the three of us went on, he just wanted to stay in the room and order room service. I am sure it will be much more fun on your next trip with just you and your daughter. Maybe when your son is a little older, you can bring him along, too. I don't know when you are going to WDW again, but you might want to think about putting a little $$$ for Lyft/Uber. I didn't need to use them that much on this trip, but it makes a big difference if you're going from one resort to another. It's one less thing to stress about and it gives you more time. It's also good when you just don't want to wait around for another bus.

We usually go relatively early, though rope drop only happened a couple of times...one time I made a morning ADR at Crystal Palace, thinking it would get me into the park before RD....then they moved RD up an hour at the last minute so we didn't get in any earlier. And then we did RD for HS so A could do Jedi Training. In 2016, we got there, rushed straight to the sign up place, but we were so far back in the line that the only spots left were all in the afternoon when I had scheduled a rest period because that's the hottest part of the day and I don't want to be standing in lines in that heat. Every day of that trip, my husband had decided we were ignoring the rest period because he thought we should go here or do this instead. After the Jedi Training in the sweltering heat, I'd had it and put my foot down and said we were taking a break the next day. We did, and we were all better for it, so then he actually listened to me and we did breaks every day to go back and either swim or nap, then go back to the parks.

That's A, too...that's why my husband asked E and I if we'd be willing to go by ourselves. My husband really doesn't want to go at all....it's not his favorite, even though he has some things he does like, like ToT, RRC, SM, BTMRR, etc....mostly thrill rides and then some of the classics like HM. But he doesn't CRAVE going on those....they make the trip at least a LITTLE fun for him, whereas E and I really love Disney specifically....we're not thrill ride people or amusement park people. It's not amusement parks we like, it's DISNEY. And A isn't a Disney fanatic, but there are some rides specific to Disney he loves, like Test Track. That's his favorite ever. But after he's ridden it a few times, he's done and he'd rather sit in the hotel room and play on his computer. He had several days last trip that he didn't go into the parks at all. And I get it with him....he gets overstimulated and needs a break. It's noisy, it's crowded, there are bright colors and a lot of light, it's really hot and humid....it's a lot. So I get his need to take breaks from it. And it's nice that he's old enough now that we can let him stay in the resort with some snacks and his computer and he's fine while we go park hopping. When he was younger, we couldn't do that....in order for him to stay at the resort, one of us had to as well, and I think my husband really resented having to "waste" a day of ticket, because you still pay for it, basically. We get 2 week tickets, but they have to be used within 14 days, so if you take a resort day, you can't use that day's ticket later. But now he's old enough to be by himself, but I don't think he'd dare to go back to the resort himself if he was done, so he still needs someone to take him back to the resort and pick him up again for meals. That's less than ideal. But that's why DH asked us to go without them, because he says it's a waste of money for tickets and flights and all for them when HE doesn't enjoy it, and A spends more than half the time in the resort room. So he said we should use the money we would spend on THEIR portion of the expenses and buy a gaming computer instead. My BIL just got a new gaming computer and wanted to sell his old one, so A used his savings to buy it....so he now has his own gaming computer in his own room....since about a week ago. But he bought it himself. So I don't know what that means for the Disney trip. I'd have no objection to bringing him along to Disney, IF he could be independent enough that he wouldn't be preventing E and I from doing the things we want to do. If he was either willing to just join in with us, OR to go his own way if he didn't want to do what we're doing, that would be fine. The problem is when he expects us to leave the park after a couple of hours because he's ridden Test Track 3 times and that's all he wanted to do, so he wants someone to take him back to the resort and doesn't want to wait for us to use a fastpass, or whatever. Kind of like Sheldon on Big Bang Theory when Leonard tells him he's going to have to find another ride to work, because Leonard booked some time with specific equipment and the only time it was available was at night, so he's going to be going in at night for a couple of weeks. Leonard comes home and Sheldon says "Ok, you need to drive me to work now." And Leonard tries to explain that no, he has a different schedule now, Sheldon will have to find another ride, but Sheldon doesn't seem to grasp the concept of making alternative arrangements. That's A. In his mind, if he's done, it's time to go and as he can't go alone, someone needs to take him right now. But my best friend is also wanting to do a girls trip with us. Her oldest daughter just got married on Sunday, so she's an adult and moved out and all that. But her younger daughter Just turned 14, so she's in between E and A, and we thought it would be fun to go to Disney with E and her A. So MY A wouldn't really fit in with that scenario either. An all girls trip, plus A. We'll see how it works out.

How many people fit in a room at Swolphin?

 

[StarWarsGirl]

Whelp, my covid test came back negative, as I assumed it would, so I can officially go to the concert tonight.

I still don't feel great, but Mom is driving so that should help. We're going to see how this is going up to Hershey for concerts. My dad doesn't like going to concerts, and he's not a fan of us going down to Baltimore by ourselves, but he's cool with us going to Hershey by ourselves for a concert. So if this works out well, we can potentially go to more up there, maybe even bring my mom's friend and my longtime bestie, who's moving back here next year.

 

[Sans Souci]

We usually go relatively early, though rope drop only happened a couple of times...one time I made a morning ADR at Crystal Palace, thinking it would get me into the park before RD....then they moved RD up an hour at the last minute so we didn't get in any earlier. And then we did RD for HS so A could do Jedi Training. In 2016, we got there, rushed straight to the sign up place, but we were so far back in the line that the only spots left were all in the afternoon when I had scheduled a rest period because that's the hottest part of the day and I don't want to be standing in lines in that heat. Every day of that trip, my husband had decided we were ignoring the rest period because he thought we should go here or do this instead. After the Jedi Training in the sweltering heat, I'd had it and put my foot down and said we were taking a break the next day. We did, and we were all better for it, so then he actually listened to me and we did breaks every day to go back and either swim or nap, then go back to the parks.

That's A, too...that's why my husband asked E and I if we'd be willing to go by ourselves. My husband really doesn't want to go at all....it's not his favorite, even though he has some things he does like, like ToT, RRC, SM, BTMRR, etc....mostly thrill rides and then some of the classics like HM. But he doesn't CRAVE going on those....they make the trip at least a LITTLE fun for him, whereas E and I really love Disney specifically....we're not thrill ride people or amusement park people. It's not amusement parks we like, it's DISNEY. And A isn't a Disney fanatic, but there are some rides specific to Disney he loves, like Test Track. That's his favorite ever. But after he's ridden it a few times, he's done and he'd rather sit in the hotel room and play on his computer. He had several days last trip that he didn't go into the parks at all. And I get it with him....he gets overstimulated and needs a break. It's noisy, it's crowded, there are bright colors and a lot of light, it's really hot and humid....it's a lot. So I get his need to take breaks from it. And it's nice that he's old enough now that we can let him stay in the resort with some snacks and his computer and he's fine while we go park hopping. When he was younger, we couldn't do that....in order for him to stay at the resort, one of us had to as well, and I think my husband really resented having to "waste" a day of ticket, because you still pay for it, basically. We get 2 week tickets, but they have to be used within 14 days, so if you take a resort day, you can't use that day's ticket later. But now he's old enough to be by himself, but I don't think he'd dare to go back to the resort himself if he was done, so he still needs someone to take him back to the resort and pick him up again for meals. That's less than ideal. But that's why DH asked us to go without them, because he says it's a waste of money for tickets and flights and all for them when HE doesn't enjoy it, and A spends more than half the time in the resort room. So he said we should use the money we would spend on THEIR portion of the expenses and buy a gaming computer instead. My BIL just got a new gaming computer and wanted to sell his old one, so A used his savings to buy it....so he now has his own gaming computer in his own room....since about a week ago. But he bought it himself. So I don't know what that means for the Disney trip. I'd have no objection to bringing him along to Disney, IF he could be independent enough that he wouldn't be preventing E and I from doing the things we want to do. If he was either willing to just join in with us, OR to go his own way if he didn't want to do what we're doing, that would be fine. The problem is when he expects us to leave the park after a couple of hours because he's ridden Test Track 3 times and that's all he wanted to do, so he wants someone to take him back to the resort and doesn't want to wait for us to use a fastpass, or whatever. Kind of like Sheldon on Big Bang Theory when Leonard tells him he's going to have to find another ride to work, because Leonard booked some time with specific equipment and the only time it was available was at night, so he's going to be going in at night for a couple of weeks. Leonard comes home and Sheldon says "Ok, you need to drive me to work now." And Leonard tries to explain that no, he has a different schedule now, Sheldon will have to find another ride, but Sheldon doesn't seem to grasp the concept of making alternative arrangements. That's A. In his mind, if he's done, it's time to go and as he can't go alone, someone needs to take him right now. But my best friend is also wanting to do a girls trip with us. Her oldest daughter just got married on Sunday, so she's an adult and moved out and all that. But her younger daughter Just turned 14, so she's in between E and A, and we thought it would be fun to go to Disney with E and her A. So MY A wouldn't really fit in with that scenario either. An all girls trip, plus A. We'll see how it works out.

How many people fit in a room at Swolphin?

I've always let my son bring his laptop when we've travelled. If his laptop kept him calm in a novel situation, it was always worth letting him bring it.

My son is like that, too--about riding his rides and wanting to go back to the room. I used to bribe him with treats. We last went to WDW as a family in 2016, so he was just about 14- old enough to let him go back to the room. We would check in with him and told him what to do if an emergency happened. If he wanted to go out to get food, he had to stay within the hotel and let us know his plans. My husband and I just went to the parks alone. We dip in and out of parks to swim/nap, so he was never alone for more than 2-3 hours. It was just such a waste of money to pay for 8 days of adult park hoppers for that, though.

I once had some in the general discussion tell me they felt very sorry for me because I mentioned my son aged out completely from WDW at 14. Not every child likes Disney. That's OK. Children are allowed to have likes/dislikes separate from their parents' interests. It's a part of becoming an independent adult. Good grief, spare me your pity.

They have different room configurations at the Swolphin. We had a king with a sofa bed, so our room could have slept 2 adults on the bed with an older child or adult on the sofa bed or 2 littles on the sofa bed.

 

[Sans Souci]

Good morning-

I'm checking with a lower body strength workout. I had a hard time deciding what I want to do this AM.

My husband and I never went out to eat last night. He is nearly done with series of 29 weekly allergy shots and he had an appointment yesterday. He went into anaphylactic shock two minutes after his shot. He had to use his epipen and they gave him a lot of Benadryl and some inhaler thing he said. His appointment was at 9 and he didn't get home after one. He had to take an Uber home because he couldn't drive (because of the Benadryl mega dose)and my son was at the dentist with the other one. He wants to quit his shots now. I told him to talk to his GP and his allergist for their opinion. I don't blame him for wanting to quit, though. But it's never a bad thing to solicit a professional's opinion. Anyway, he'd been through a lot and he understandably wanted to have a quiet evening. We got Mod delivered and watched TV.

I have monkey bread baking in the oven right now. Fall puts me in a baking mood. I just struggle with sugar and carbs this time of year, in addition to mood stuff. I've only been using my light box for a few days, so I am hoping to get some relief in the upcoming weeks.

 

[MinnieM123]

Good morning-

I'm checking with a lower body strength workout. I had a hard time deciding what I want to do this AM.

My husband and I never went out to eat last night. He is nearly done with series of 29 weekly allergy shots and he had an appointment yesterday. He went into anaphylactic shock two minutes after his shot. He had to use his epipen and they gave him a lot of Benadryl and some inhaler thing he said. His appointment was at 9 and he didn't get home after one. He had to take an Uber home because he couldn't drive (because of the Benadryl mega dose)and my son was at the dentist with the other one. He wants to quit his shots now. I told him to talk to his GP and his allergist for their opinion. I don't blame him for wanting to quit, though. But it's never a bad thing to solicit a professional's opinion. Anyway, he'd been through a lot and he understandably wanted to have a quiet evening. We got Mod delivered and watched TV.

I have monkey bread baking in the oven right now. Fall puts me in a baking mood. I just struggle with sugar and carbs this time of year, in addition to mood stuff. I've only been using my light box for a few days, so I am hoping to get some relief in the upcoming weeks.

Sorry to hear about the reaction he had to his allergy shot. That's scary, and I'm glad they had medicine to treat him immediately. I hope he'll be o.k. and his doctor can monitor / adjust his prescription, if needed.

 

[StarWarsGirl]

Good morning-

I'm checking with a lower body strength workout. I had a hard time deciding what I want to do this AM.

My husband and I never went out to eat last night. He is nearly done with series of 29 weekly allergy shots and he had an appointment yesterday. He went into anaphylactic shock two minutes after his shot. He had to use his epipen and they gave him a lot of Benadryl and some inhaler thing he said. His appointment was at 9 and he didn't get home after one. He had to take an Uber home because he couldn't drive (because of the Benadryl mega dose)and my son was at the dentist with the other one. He wants to quit his shots now. I told him to talk to his GP and his allergist for their opinion. I don't blame him for wanting to quit, though. But it's never a bad thing to solicit a professional's opinion. Anyway, he'd been through a lot and he understandably wanted to have a quiet evening. We got Mod delivered and watched TV.

I have monkey bread baking in the oven right now. Fall puts me in a baking mood. I just struggle with sugar and carbs this time of year, in addition to mood stuff. I've only been using my light box for a few days, so I am hoping to get some relief in the upcoming weeks.

Well, that's why they have you wait there after the shot. I wonder if they could determine what sent him into anaphylactic shock, or lower the amount they're giving him. Allergy shots did wonders for me. Hopefully his allergist can come up with something. Although as someone who's been in anaphylactic shock before, I get it.

 

[StarWarsGirl]

@Sans Souci

 

[Songbird76]

I've always let my son bring his laptop when we've travelled. If his laptop kept him calm in a novel situation, it was always worth letting him bring it.

My son is like that, too--about riding his rides and wanting to go back to the room. I used to bribe him with treats. We last went to WDW as a family in 2016, so he was just about 14- old enough to let him go back to the room. We would check in with him and told him what to do if an emergency happened. If he wanted to go out to get food, he had to stay within the hotel and let us know his plans. My husband and I just went to the parks alone. We dip in and out of parks to swim/nap, so he was never alone for more than 2-3 hours. It was just such a waste of money to pay for 8 days of adult park hoppers for that, though.

I once had some in the general discussion tell me they felt very sorry for me because I mentioned my son aged out completely from WDW at 14. Not every child likes Disney. That's OK. Children are allowed to have likes/dislikes separate from their parents' interests. It's a part of becoming an independent adult. Good grief, spare me your pity.

They have different room configurations at the Swolphin. We had a king with a sofa bed, so our room could have slept 2 adults on the bed with an older child or adult on the sofa bed or 2 littles on the sofa bed.

We all travel with our laptops, and we all have our own because E often needed to use a computer for school starting in 5th or 6th grade....she had to make a power point one year, she had to write some sort of report one year, and she kept having to borrow our laptops to do it, so neither of us were getting to use our own laptops. We knew that was only going to get worse because A would need one, too, and then when they were in high school, it would be constant. So we got them each their own for school purposes. This year, it was a good thing because they needed them for remote learning and the kids from families with shared computers had significant issues. But A spends a LOT of downtime on the computer. He can't really sit still through a whole movie most of the time unless he's really really invested in it. He's not into music or anything, and I don't play chess, so he can't play chess until dad gets home. So he plays on the computer. That's his routine. But the thing with vacation is just that it's SO much stimulation and he needs a break now and then. We always have to plan downtime for him. But our 2019 Disney/Universal trip, we went to Chuy's for dinner one night, and there was a guy making balloon animals, and A got a Pikachu, which he LOVED. We had told him we wouldn't be able to take it on the plane with us, so he could only have it for a few days, but he fell in love with that and was devastated when it came time to pack up and leave the balloon Pikachu behind. We spent our last day in Orlando going to the outlet malls, etc, trying to find a Pikachu plush. Unsuccessful. Then we get to the airport, and told him he could have McDonalds in the airport, because we were cutting it kind of close getting there....he won't eat the food on the plane, but it's a 10 hour flight home. We wanted to get through security, but once we got to our terminal, we looked around and there was no McDonalds and nowhere that even sold french fries. He freaked out. They were testing the alarm systems, so there were flashing lights and sirens every few minutes in our terminal, and he just had a complete meltdown. I gave him my pillow to hit because he kept punching his legs and I was afraid he was going to hurt himself. I was apologizing to other travelers, explaining he has autism and he was having a hard day, so they were very kind. But we couldn't let him get on his computer if we were leaving soon. Then they announced an hour delay. M was able to take him back out to the McDonalds before security to eat, then come back through security in time to board, which calmed him down significantly and also filled in some of that wait time, which is a trigger for him anyway. Rotten rotten day for him, and his computer would have been a real help, IF we hadn't thought we'd be leaving any minute.

That's the thing....different kids can handle different things. He was 11 I think when we went to Disney, but he could stay in the room just fine. We had snacks there in the room so he wouldn't go hungry, and we'd just pick him up for ADRs. He didn't leave the room when he was by himself. But he's almost 14 now, and I'm pretty sure there's no way he would go back to the room by himself. He'd need someone to take him. Once he's there, he's fine. But actually getting there would be a huge deal for him. He rides his bike to school alone now, but for the first several weeks, I had to go with him, and it's only 5 minutes away, a pretty much straight shot once you get out of our neighborhood. Same for tennis. He goes by himself now, but I went with him the first several months until Corona when they had to ban parents from sitting there while the kids had lessons. Chess, he doesn't go himself yet because they moved it this year and he's only been there twice. But it takes him a long time before he's confident that he knows where to go and how to get there. I don't know when we'll go to Disney again, so it's possible by that time he would be able to navigate...he's getting more independent all the time. And like I said, if he IS independent, I have no problem bringing him along and he can do his own thing, if he wants to go. But even E, who is very mature for 15 and quite independent, doesn't dare go off by herself in Disney....though she was only 13 last time, so maybe that would be different next time, too. But if SHE won't dare to go to the room by herself, A certainly won't.

Can some of the rooms at Swolphin sleep 5? I'm not sure if my bestie and I would share a room or not. With both of us and our daughters, there's 4. Then if A comes, that's 5. It would certainly save money for us to share, and then we could afford a nicer resort. If Swolphin could sleep all 5 of us, it's a nice enough resort and cheaper, so it would cost us even less than staying in a value if we shared a room. I have no idea of the logistics right now, but it's nice to know what's available so we can plan that out.

 

[Songbird76]

Good morning-

I'm checking with a lower body strength workout. I had a hard time deciding what I want to do this AM.

My husband and I never went out to eat last night. He is nearly done with series of 29 weekly allergy shots and he had an appointment yesterday. He went into anaphylactic shock two minutes after his shot. He had to use his epipen and they gave him a lot of Benadryl and some inhaler thing he said. His appointment was at 9 and he didn't get home after one. He had to take an Uber home because he couldn't drive (because of the Benadryl mega dose)and my son was at the dentist with the other one. He wants to quit his shots now. I told him to talk to his GP and his allergist for their opinion. I don't blame him for wanting to quit, though. But it's never a bad thing to solicit a professional's opinion. Anyway, he'd been through a lot and he understandably wanted to have a quiet evening. We got Mod delivered and watched TV.

I have monkey bread baking in the oven right now. Fall puts me in a baking mood. I just struggle with sugar and carbs this time of year, in addition to mood stuff. I've only been using my light box for a few days, so I am hoping to get some relief in the upcoming weeks.

How scary for your husband! I guess I didn't realize allergy shots could cause that....isn't antiphylactic shock a result of an allergy? So, does that mean your husband is allergic to the allergy shots?? I don't blame him for wanting to quit, but is each shot different? Did he have any issues with the other shots before this one? How many more would he get?

 

[MinnieM123]

Can some of the rooms at Swolphin sleep 5? I'm not sure if my bestie and I would share a room or not. With both of us and our daughters, there's 4. Then if A comes, that's 5. It would certainly save money for us to share, and then we could afford a nicer resort. If Swolphin could sleep all 5 of us, it's a nice enough resort and cheaper, so it would cost us even less than staying in a value if we shared a room. I have no idea of the logistics right now, but it's nice to know what's available so we can plan that out.

Haven't been to the Swan in 3 years now, but I recall that the rooms weren't all that big. Choice was either 2 queens, or 1 king. Not sure if there's a fold-out sofa or not. What I also noticed was the small closet/storage area, in some of the rooms.

For me, I was there solo and none of this mattered; but if you're talking 4-5 people, you might want to check out their web site to get the square footage of the rooms first. As for the Dolphin, that might be a little larger, but as I recall the Dolphin had two full (not queen-sized) beds. I think they also had kings, but I'm not positive, as I haven't stayed there for over 8 years now. (Swan was my favorite of the two.)

Also to keep in consideration, is if you all just need a room to sleep and take a shower. If you're hardly there (and mostly out at the parks etc. all day long), it might not matter too much if all were sharing 1 room only.

 

[StarWarsGirl]

Haven't been to the Swan in 3 years now, but I recall that the rooms weren't all that big. Choice was either 2 queens, or 1 king. Not sure if there's a fold-out sofa or not. What I also noticed was the small closet/storage area, in some of the rooms.

For me, I was there solo and none of this mattered; but if you're talking 4-5 people, you might want to check out their web site to get the square footage of the rooms first. As for the Dolphin, that might be a little larger, but as I recall the Dolphin had two full (not queen-sized) beds. I think they also had kings, but I'm not positive, as I haven't stayed there for over 8 years now. (Swan was my favorite of the two.)

Also to keep in consideration, is if you all just need a room to sleep and take a shower. If you're hardly there (and mostly out at the parks etc. all day long), it might not matter too much if all were sharing 1 room only.

There's also the new tower opening. Not sure if the rooms will be bigger there.

 

[MinnieM123]

There's also the new tower opening. Not sure if the rooms will be bigger there.

Yah, they just pushed back (cancelled) all reservations again -- relocated guest reservations over to the Swan. Would be nice for the Swan Reserve Hotel to actually open up at some point!

 

[Sans Souci]

We all travel with our laptops, and we all have our own because E often needed to use a computer for school starting in 5th or 6th grade....she had to make a power point one year, she had to write some sort of report one year, and she kept having to borrow our laptops to do it, so neither of us were getting to use our own laptops. We knew that was only going to get worse because A would need one, too, and then when they were in high school, it would be constant. So we got them each their own for school purposes. This year, it was a good thing because they needed them for remote learning and the kids from families with shared computers had significant issues. But A spends a LOT of downtime on the computer. He can't really sit still through a whole movie most of the time unless he's really really invested in it. He's not into music or anything, and I don't play chess, so he can't play chess until dad gets home. So he plays on the computer. That's his routine. But the thing with vacation is just that it's SO much stimulation and he needs a break now and then. We always have to plan downtime for him. But our 2019 Disney/Universal trip, we went to Chuy's for dinner one night, and there was a guy making balloon animals, and A got a Pikachu, which he LOVED. We had told him we wouldn't be able to take it on the plane with us, so he could only have it for a few days, but he fell in love with that and was devastated when it came time to pack up and leave the balloon Pikachu behind. We spent our last day in Orlando going to the outlet malls, etc, trying to find a Pikachu plush. Unsuccessful. Then we get to the airport, and told him he could have McDonalds in the airport, because we were cutting it kind of close getting there....he won't eat the food on the plane, but it's a 10 hour flight home. We wanted to get through security, but once we got to our terminal, we looked around and there was no McDonalds and nowhere that even sold french fries. He freaked out. They were testing the alarm systems, so there were flashing lights and sirens every few minutes in our terminal, and he just had a complete meltdown. I gave him my pillow to hit because he kept punching his legs and I was afraid he was going to hurt himself. I was apologizing to other travelers, explaining he has autism and he was having a hard day, so they were very kind. But we couldn't let him get on his computer if we were leaving soon. Then they announced an hour delay. M was able to take him back out to the McDonalds before security to eat, then come back through security in time to board, which calmed him down significantly and also filled in some of that wait time, which is a trigger for him anyway. Rotten rotten day for him, and his computer would have been a real help, IF we hadn't thought we'd be leaving any minute.

That's the thing....different kids can handle different things. He was 11 I think when we went to Disney, but he could stay in the room just fine. We had snacks there in the room so he wouldn't go hungry, and we'd just pick him up for ADRs. He didn't leave the room when he was by himself. But he's almost 14 now, and I'm pretty sure there's no way he would go back to the room by himself. He'd need someone to take him. Once he's there, he's fine. But actually getting there would be a huge deal for him. He rides his bike to school alone now, but for the first several weeks, I had to go with him, and it's only 5 minutes away, a pretty much straight shot once you get out of our neighborhood. Same for tennis. He goes by himself now, but I went with him the first several months until Corona when they had to ban parents from sitting there while the kids had lessons. Chess, he doesn't go himself yet because they moved it this year and he's only been there twice. But it takes him a long time before he's confident that he knows where to go and how to get there. I don't know when we'll go to Disney again, so it's possible by that time he would be able to navigate...he's getting more independent all the time. And like I said, if he IS independent, I have no problem bringing him along and he can do his own thing, if he wants to go. But even E, who is very mature for 15 and quite independent, doesn't dare go off by herself in Disney....though she was only 13 last time, so maybe that would be different next time, too. But if SHE won't dare to go to the room by herself, A certainly won't.

Can some of the rooms at Swolphin sleep 5? I'm not sure if my bestie and I would share a room or not. With both of us and our daughters, there's 4. Then if A comes, that's 5. It would certainly save money for us to share, and then we could afford a nicer resort. If Swolphin could sleep all 5 of us, it's a nice enough resort and cheaper, so it would cost us even less than staying in a value if we shared a room. I have no idea of the logistics right now, but it's nice to know what's available so we can plan that out.

We did bring him back to the room together, I should have been more. I think the crowds and heat really get to him, too, so it's a nice break for him. I struggle with the crowds, too. I give myself lots of time outs, too.

I think you might want to look into family rooms at the Dolphin. They look nice, almost like a studio apartment. They look like they would sleep more people. I want to echo what Minnie said about room size. The closets are small. My husband and I had to stow our luggage behind the desk in our room. The rooms are 340 sq ft. My husband mentioned at one point if our son had come with us, it would have been tight. But if all you are doing is sleeping and getting ready in the AM, how much room do you need?

 

[Sans Souci]

Well, that's why they have you wait there after the shot. I wonder if they could determine what sent him into anaphylactic shock, or lower the amount they're giving him. Allergy shots did wonders for me. Hopefully his allergist can come up with something. Although as someone who's been in anaphylactic shock before, I get it.

His mom suggested he stop. He has been having other issues and she said maybe the shots caused them. I think they go back to when he had shingles last year. His health has not been the same since then. But it's his body. I think he had the living daylights scared out of him on Friday. He did send an email to his GP to see what he thinks, but ultimately, I think he is going to stop.

 

[Sans Souci]

How scary for your husband! I guess I didn't realize allergy shots could cause that....isn't antiphylactic shock a result of an allergy? So, does that mean your husband is allergic to the allergy shots?? I don't blame him for wanting to quit, but is each shot different? Did he have any issues with the other shots before this one? How many more would he get?

I guess it means the dosage he was at was too high? Each dose gets higher each week, until he gets to a point where he would go in 1-2/month for maintenance shots. He had issues with severe swelling and redness at the injection site. A couple of times when it was severe, they reverted to the previous week's dosage when he went in for his next shot and it seemed OK. They said it was only the second time this has happened at the office. The other time was a woman who getting a shot in each arm every week. I guess her body thought that was too aggressive.

It seemed like he was pretty close to the end, he started in April. I don't blame him for wanting to stop, but it's a shame he was close to the end.