Florida Trip ~ Part 3 of 3.

iVillage Member
Registered: 08-05-1999
Florida Trip ~ Part 3 of 3.
5
Mon, 04-28-2003 - 7:44am
An excerpt from my blog ... long as always.

After breakfast on Monday, we head south for Orlando. My DB made advance reservations everywhere possible so our days and evenings were pre-arranged. All we had to do was "show up".

At SeaWorld the price of a season’s pass was about the same as a day pass, so we took time to have photo IDs taken and hope to return before the end of the year.

My favorite part of the park was Shamu ... of course. We spent the day there, checked into out hotel, and had dinner at The California Grill (Contemporary Resort). Excellent! And drinks at the Outer Rim.

On Tuesday we went to Animal Kingdom for the day … LOVE that place and will definitely return. That night my DB and DSIL got a Disney sitter for their toddler, so we went to Disney’s Boardwalk ... an Atlantic City-type boardwalk. We had dinner at Spoodles and later went for drinks and to enjoy the music at Jelly Rolls.

On Wednesday we were all up early and went to a 7:45AM character breakfast at the Polynesian. I got the best hugs from Chip and Dale, my favorite Disney characters. We spent the remainder of the morning watching my nephew enjoy the Magic Kingdom and retired to poolside for the afternoon. That evening it was back to the Boardwalk to dine at The Flying Fish Café. Great!

On Thursday it was off to MGM Studios for a few hours. The back lot tour was nice. I’m glad we went. But there’s really not all that much to see or do there ... at least for us. I wouldn’t go back unless it were for a special event of some sort. Then it was off to EPCOT. We’ve been there before in the distant past but enjoyed it nonetheless. That night we “dined” at Chef Mickey’s Restaurant at the request of my nephew. It was fun. It was also good to be with him one last time before we headed home.

All too soon! ... Friday morning ... Back to reality. All the same ... You should have seen me clicking my heals and saying ...

There’s no pace like home. There’s no place like home! Truly!

Until next year ...

F.

PS Now it's back to eating fresh fruit, lots of salads, and anything low-cal & low-fat! LOL!

 

iVillage Member
Registered: 09-16-1999
Mon, 04-28-2003 - 8:06am
I just went back and read part 2 of your trip story! Wow, what a great time you had! You got hugs from Chip and Dale??? I love those guys too!

About Daytona -- I haven't been there in probably 30 years -- do they still let you park your car on the beach? That's the one thing I remember most about Daytona.

Thanks for sharing your trip with us, Francine. Welcome home and have a great day!....BB

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iVillage Member
Registered: 03-25-2003
Mon, 04-28-2003 - 8:21am
I haven't been in Orlando since DS was 12. We used to go two /three times a year since my DB lived in Miami then. I see it has changed a lot. The boardwalk sounds like fun. Did you stay at one of the Disney hotels? I am planning a trip to Clearwater in early June and might get up to Orlando .

Hope

Hug Hope
iVillage Member
Registered: 08-05-1999
Mon, 04-28-2003 - 8:27am
Hi, BB

In some places, yes. You can park as well as drive. But we stayed on a traffic-free stretch of beach where most of the people were from the hotel rather that daytrippers.

I understand the city is trying to make most of the area traffic-free and is trying to push out all the smaller, *tackier" businesses to make the area more *convention friendly*. The hotel where we stayed had excellent convention facilities from what we could see and wonderful ballrooms for weddings and fundraisaers and such.

The beach is lovely but truthfully ... there's not enough to do there unless you have family as I do or unless you just want to veg at the beach every day. Then it's a perfcet location.

HAGD

F.

 

iVillage Member
Registered: 08-05-1999
Mon, 04-28-2003 - 8:40am
Good Morning, Hope

Yes. We stayed at The Contemporary Resort. Truthfully it isn't my favorote hotel. I feel it is over priced for what you get and I wouldn't have stayed there except ...

My DB made that part of our reservations and he got us *upgraded* to the tower. His DD just completed an internship at Disney, so we got a few special privileges. Our park hopper passes were free, for example.

The view was beautiful ... we could see the fireworks at night and Cinderella's Castle all lit up ... and it was great to be right on the monorail. My DSIL appreciated that aspect with a 3 year old in tow.

But the place was crawling with kids and was very noisy and ... well ... you get the idea.

If I were you, I'd save some money and stay just outside the park and use their shuttles to get back and forth.

JMHO but ... You'll enjoy your trip wherever you decide to stay.

F.

 

Community Leader
Registered: 10-01-2002
Mon, 04-28-2003 - 9:47am
Morning Francine Sound so Nice, Have a great day.... wren
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