(Sea)Lions & Gators & Dolphins….Oh, My! A Halloween PTR/TR with a “wild” theme - Oct/Nov '18

What they said. :) I hope you still pop in to give a brief rundown of items you enjoyed. While I'm mostly a lurker, over the years your reports have added many wonderful items to our family vacation itineraries. Seeing you and Steve continue your trips without your son has helped me see what future trips without the kids could be and something to look forward to instead of sad about. Life goals and all that. ;-) All that to say - your trip reports are much appreciated.

Yes- totally agree!! Gina TR's are THE BEST!!!:thumbsup2 Gave me great ideas, saved me $$- made two wonderful friends for life!:)
 
Infinity Falls looks fun! And good strategy doing it at the end of your day (my husband hates spending the day walking around in wet sneakers but smart timing would eliminate that).

Your next trip is so close! Hope you guys have a wonderful time, I'm sure it'll be a much needed break for you both.
 
5 times?? I thought my 2 in a day was a lot

We figured that opportunity may never come again. YOLO!! :p

Did you say no more trip reports? Oh no! Your reports are my favorites!

Aw, you are so sweet :goodvibes. But I've been a simply AWFUL trip reporter this spring.....I've gotten so off track, and that's maddening as a reader. I feel absolutely terrible that I've left everyone just sort of hanging with such sporadic posts. I can't help but feel that if I can't do a good job, I shouldn't do them at all :guilty:.

We went on Royal Caribbean- 7 day Western Caribbean. It was our first cruise! Orlando friends convinced us that we had to try it and so we tagged along on their cruise. It was nice to have experienced cruisers with us! Bonus was that we left from Miami so we got to visit with Kyle & Erin pre and post cruise. Troy joined us for Easter weekend so that we could be all together for a nice brunch before flying home!

Next Orlando adventure- Memorial Day weekend! It's a graduation celebration for Troy! and hoping to get a last dose of Disney before the chaos ensues when Star Wars land opens and we will stay clear for a while!

You both so deserve a nice vacation- I know it's been rough lately. I'm sure even with dietary restrictions, you will have yummy meals! I know it's time for Joe and I to get down to business and lose some pounds! I will anxiously await your dining choices which will give me some encouragement that we can be on vacation, eat healthy, and still have a great time!:)

That sounds like an awesome time. We have yet to try a cruise (I've been super afraid that I'd be seasick the entire time) but it's on our bucket list. We actually toyed with doing one this year, but then we bought a hot tub :rolleyes1 and between that and the outdoor renos that went along with it, I'm doubting that a cruise will be in the budget for 2019. I think I'd like to try a shorter one first just to see how it goes.

Your next trip won't be long getting here at all!! Just a few more weeks to go!

What they said. :) I hope you still pop in to give a brief rundown of items you enjoyed. While I'm mostly a lurker, over the years your reports have added many wonderful items to our family vacation itineraries. Seeing you and Steve continue your trips without your son has helped me see what future trips without the kids could be and something to look forward to instead of sad about. Life goals and all that. ;-) All that to say - your trip reports are much appreciated.

Aw, thank you SO very much :goodvibes. You guys are all so unbelievably generous with your compliments. You make my heart just swell up! (in a good way!)

You certainly made the most of the short lines! We are planning a January 2020 trip, hopefully meeting up with our niece and family again for a few days, probably just getting SW tickets this time.

Not long now........:cheer2:

Not too bad of a wait, but long enough for you I bet. The countdown is on!

Ah yes, we are sooooo close now. 4 days to go. I can hardly believe it :eek:.

Yes- totally agree!! Gina TR's are THE BEST!!!:thumbsup2 Gave me great ideas, saved me $$- made two wonderful friends for life!:)

Thank you, my friend. The new friends we've made are easily the absolute BEST part of the Dis experience!!!

I'll join in on the chorus and say that your trip reports are some of my most favorite things on the internet! While we would certainly understand if you couldn't continue them, I know I would certainly miss them.

Thank you, dear girl :goodvibes. I appreciate that so much.

Infinity Falls looks fun! And good strategy doing it at the end of your day (my husband hates spending the day walking around in wet sneakers but smart timing would eliminate that).

Your next trip is so close! Hope you guys have a wonderful time, I'm sure it'll be a much needed break for you both.

I absolutely refuse to be wet and squishy all day at a theme park. Not only does it make me LOOK horrendous, it feels just awful. Water rides are end-of-the-day activities for me, or not at all. I'm totally with your husband on that one!!

We are close enough now that I actually started packing today :thumbsup2. Got about 90% of it done.....pretty much all that's left are the things that can't be packed until the morning of (our electric toothbrushes, etc.). I'd like to look at the Orlando forecast to see what the weather is shaping up to be, but I haven't been able to bring myself to peek yet. I don't want to be disappointed!! We've had nothing but rain, rain, rain here lately and I'm dying for some warmth and sunshine.
 


Friday, November 2nd

It had been a busy trip up until this point in the week, so our final full day was intentionally designed to be a little more relaxing. While we never really sit idle on any of our vacation days, we like to have one or two that are parks-free. This was one such day.

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It was our intention to hit up Disney Springs that morning (with the hopes of enjoying a ride on the Characters in Flight balloon, since it wasn't flying due to wind when we visited earlier that week) so we opted to pick a breakfast place that was on the way. Initially we had planned to go to Steak & Shake (since its such a good value) but we made a split second decision to stop at Perkins instead. As we sat at the red light at the entrance to the Crossroads, I happened to glance over and comment that someday we needed to give Perkins a try (we had never been to an American one, and not surprisingly our sole visit to one of the few Canadian locations for dinner many years ago was underwhelming). Steve had a "there's no time like the present" moment, whipped the wheel to the right, and snagged us a parking space before I had chance to argue. But then again, why would I do that? :laughing:

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It wasn't particularly busy so we were seated immediately and quickly had cups of hot coffee placed in front of us by our very efficient, very mature server. I was happy to note they had flavored creamers.....one of my guilty pleasures....so in my opinion, we were off to a very good start.

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We took some time to review the menu......there were lots of good choices from which to pick.....before providing our order to our server. She whisked away to the kitchen to submit our entree choices to the cooks, but returned promptly thereafter to refill our coffee cups. It wasn't long at all before our food was delivered to our table, and it made a pretty good first impression.

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Can you guess whose is whose? :scratchin ;)

All in all, it was pretty good. It didn't quite measure up to IHOP, in our opinion (although the price point was pretty similar) but it was a satisfying and tasty meal. It was a noticeably quieter atmosphere than IHOP, for sure, which was rather fitting for our 'relaxing' day. All in all, we were satisfied. Definitely a better experience than our Perkins dinner in Niagara Falls, Ontario many moons ago.

As we headed out of the restaurant and back to our vehicle, I commented to Steve that it felt like the wind was picking up. While I generally enjoy a nice breeze on a hot Florida day (and this day was definitely shaping up to be the warmest since we arrived.....even at the early hour, you could feel the heat in the air) I was a bit worried about the Characters in Flight balloon :cool:. Surely we wouldn't be shut out twice in one trip!

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Alas, that was exactly the case :(. This would be as close as we would get to the balloon this trip, as the gusts persisted throughout the morning and the attraction remained grounded throughout our time at the Springs. Mother Nature obviously had other plans for us on that particular day! But hey, we couldn't complain.....from the moment we arrived, it had been a trip full of sunshine :sunny: and for that, we were extremely grateful.

It was a spectacular morning, and we were pretty full from our big Perkins breakfast, so we opted for a stroll. Sunshine and warmth in November are not things we would experience in Michigan for the next 6 months, so we wanted to soak up all that we could before we headed back to the chilly north.

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All the fall overlays that we had enjoyed earlier in the week had seemingly disappeared overnight. While the Christmas decor had not yet been rolled out, we knew it wouldn't be long before Disney Springs was dressed for the holiday season.

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It was quiet and peaceful. Early mornings are easily my favorite time to visit the Springs.

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It's a nice time to check out some of the little features that are generally mobbed with people during the busier hours. Steve, of course, is drawn to the mechanical stuff.....

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....but I love perusing the stores when you're not shoulder-to-shoulder with other guests. We eventually ended up in the Marketplace, and took a tour around the World of Disney.

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Christmas was alive and well. There is barely enough time to take a breath between the Halloween and Christmas seasons at Disney World. A pause of .... 10 seconds, maybe?

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It was marvelously uncrowded. You don't see the Disney Springs shops like this very often.

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I was sorely tempted to buy this shirt, and have regretted that I didn't since we left. If I happen to stumble upon it again next week, I fear I may not be able to resist this time!

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Of course, we also stopped by Ghirardelli after World of Disney......because it's tradition, after all ;).

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They were giving away samples of one of my favorites :love:. There is no more perfect marriage than chocolate and caramel.....except maybe chocolate and peanut butter :p.

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The smell in here is just amazing :cloud9:. I'm pretty sure if heaven has a scent, this will be it.

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To be continued....
 
I hope you both have a relaxing trip!

I’m happy to hear that the Perkins location you visited was decent. We have a few locally and they seem to me going down in quality and value, so we haven’t been in quite a while.

Perkins hold a special place in our heart just because of their support of Give Kids the World Village - an amazing place that hosts families from around the world visiting central FL on Wish trips. We were eating at Perkins many years ago and read about their support on the menu. We looked it up, and have been making volunteering at the village a part of our visits for the last 4 years. It is seriously a highlight of our vacation for all of us - from age 12 to 75! I can’t say enough about it and highly recommend looking into volunteering there! There is something for everyone. (My boys can’t wait until they are old enough to help with the rides!) It is just an honor and so heartwarming to be a part of a special week for these families.

Also, I couldn’t resist looking up the cat lady shirt on the parks app. Spoiler alert it is on there :-)
 
Great start to the day. That would be my ideal time to go to Disney Springs when it’s nice and quiet
 


Enjoy your trip! I’m looking forward to Infinity Falls in August. The first time we went to Disney, my daughter (then 6) and I rode Kali 13 times in a row. My kids will be pumped for this new ride!
PS please, please,please,please do a trip report
 
You definitely need that Cat Lady shirt. We got it for Madeline last September. It's a great shirt that's held up well to washing.
 
Mother Nature obviously had other plans for us on that particular day!

Girl you know good and well that Mother Nature is, well, a word I'm probably not allowed to say on here. I will just call her an unmedicated bi-polar witch!!!

If I happen to stumble upon it again next week, I fear I may not be able to resist this time!

If you don't find it, just let me know. I can look for you when I'm down in July!
 
Yay to four more days!! I hope you both have a wonderful, restful, restorative, and fun trip!

A+ and I aren't really interested in Ocean cruises, but have you considered one of the European river cruises (AmaWaterways or similar)? Not much sea sickness on a gentle river cruise, and each morning is a different historic city to explore. It's more like a hotel that keeps moving while you sleep than being on a ship. That's the one that's on our bucket list.

I don't think I have ever seen DS that empty. Will be wonderful when we can travel outside of school breaks. Another 4(ish) years until A+ retires from teaching.

And yes, I know of the rainy day depressions. Worst flooding in decades here (well since 2 years ago when it was the worst in decades; but this one is worser). Rain has been threatening again all day and the whole city has their fingers crossed that it holds back as the Ottawa R. should crest today or tomorrow. I'll be off to the sandbagging station again after knocking off work later today. We have friends with a house in a low lying area protected by a berm (levee) that is slowly failing and is just inches from being overtopped. It is heartbreaking to see their worry; and backbreaking to get out there and help, my bones are getting too old for this!
 
I hope you have a great trip!!! Soak up that wonderful Florida sunshine, and hopefully some of your worries slide away for a bit and you come back some rested! Can't wait to hear the rest of this trip...and hopefully about your trip to Universal!
 
That sounds like an awesome time. We have yet to try a cruise (I've been super afraid that I'd be seasick the entire time) but it's on our bucket list. We actually toyed with doing one this year, but then we bought a hot tub :rolleyes1 and between that and the outdoor renos that went along with it, I'm doubting that a cruise will be in the budget for 2019. I think I'd like to try a shorter one first just to see how it goes.



We are close enough now that I actually started packing today :thumbsup2. Got about 90% of it done.....pretty much all that's left are the things that can't be packed until the morning of (our electric toothbrushes, etc.). I'd like to look at the Orlando forecast to see what the weather is shaping up to be, but I haven't been able to bring myself to peek yet. I don't want to be disappointed!! We've had nothing but rain, rain, rain here lately and I'm dying for some warmth and sunshine.

I think you would love a cruise. They are sooooo much fun!! I'm going on my 8th in Sept, and just can't wait

As for the weather...try warm, warm, and warmer (which you won't find me complaining about)
 
Not sure if that is pancakes or something else with the strawberries & whipped cream but it looks delicious! I'm sure your Perkins meal was also significantly cheaper than the one you had in Niagara Falls - it drives me nuts that the prices there are so ridiculously inflated. A meal at a Niagara Falls TGI Fridays will cost $75 when you could get the same meal at a US location for $30 - ugh!

And you absolutely have to get that cat lady shirt - it's too perfect!
 

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