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I really need to apologize. I "updated" this report during my inservice day at work on Friday (bad, I know, but I already know how to use Google Email and I needed to look like I was being productive) but somehow, the update didn't post? Maybe that's what I get for trying to "think Disney while at work"
As of 3:00 last Friday, I'm officially on Spring Break but my kiddos have a different spring break which derailed our original WDW plans. What's a mom to do? I decided to request a vacation day for them on the 30th so I could take them to my parents' house for the weekend. Since I've been back at work full time, and the boys are now getting into sports, these visits have become far and few between. In fact, it was the first time I'd been back there since MLK weekend, and it was my first solo trip with the kids in over a year
First, mother nature played an early April Fool's joke as once I swung off I-75 onto route 6, we were greeted with this sight out the window:
[IMG][/IMG]
As if we hadn't had enough snow and cold this winter. Note: The car was safely stopped at a red light while I snapped this picture.
Once we arrived at my mom's, just in time for lunch, my Aunt brought my grandmother over to see the kids. I don't have any pictures that turned out as the boys were a mass of activity after being stuck in the car for 4 hours. After lunch, we took the boys to the Bay Nature Center where we explored Lake Erie Habitats, checked out snakes, and lizards and pretended to be astronauts. It's so hard to believe that this fun spot is COMPLETELY FREE The boys also checked out the planetarium and as a show had just finished, the teacher gave the kids a free mini lesson on the 86 constellations. I'll always remember that now because he reminded us that Ohio has 86 counties
We then crossed the street to Huntington State Park to get a glimpse of the still very ice covered Lake Erie. No wonder it's still snowing and cold up here!
[IMG][/IMG]
The top picture gives you a small glimpse of the Downtown Cleveland Skyline
[IMG][/IMG]
Finally, we stopped at the memorial. The same man was Park Overseer for both Huntington and Bradley Preserve and the Metroparks placed a small memorial garden in his honor. When Cullen had me read the letters, he shook his head sadly and stated, "I don't know how a rock can 'member....it has no BRAIN!". That kid, I swear
We topped off our weekend in the fabulously redone theater near my parents' house. It looks so different from when I worked there.[IMG][/IMG] We took bets on who would fall asleep first Papa, or the boys. Surprisingly, they all stayed awake and loved Home!
We returned home late yesterday, and Patrick was trying to begin his Crazy Hat costume for Wednesday. It think he got a good start:[IMG][/IMG]
Now that everyone in the house is at school or work, I have time to "update" the trip report. Because this is a long winded post, I'll start another one dedicated just to our trip
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The Fun, Old-Fashioned Family Vacation, 3.0 http://www.passporterboards.com/foru...ml#post4472933
Ch-Ch-Changes July 2015
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Last edited by mfirst; 03-31-2015 at 10:35 AM..
Reason: Spelling errors
Looking forward to reading about the plans and trip. I remember the Tour Groups, Weather, and ER Trip report -'never a dull moment.
There isn't a dull moment in my house. I'm guessing that's what keeps me "young". My students refuse to believe I'm a day over 30
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Ch-Ch-Changes July 2015
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Now that I've gotten some of the "what's going on in the house" stuff updated, it's back to the trip.
If you'll remember, I posted that we were going to be at the Caribbean from the 10-15 of June, right?
We hit a slight curveball. With the winter, my district took an unprecedented 13 snow days due to a combination of snow, ice and extreme cold. I wish I'd kept the picture that I posted on FB, but we actually had a day with the AIR temp registering -20. We broke all sorts of crazy decades old records in this area.
Then we had a lot of 2 hour delays. I don't want to bore you with details of the state's rules, but suffice it to say that Ohio rules changed from days of instruction to hours of instruction and these 2 hour delays now counted against us. My district has had to implement several measures including adding two days to the end of the school year. This put our last teacher day at June 9th instead of June 5th. There wasn't going to be any way I could leave work at 3:15, drive home, pack up and arrive in the bubble on the 10th We also can't use personal or sick leave on the last contracted day.
So we set about changing the reservation, again. We "tweaked" it to arrive on the 12th and depart on the 16th...possibly extending it with a one night room only reservation IF a summer discount became available soon for that date, and we didn't have to move resorts. Otherwise, we'd "borrow" my cousin's soon-to-be-finished garage apartment. See, we've ch-ch-changed things again.
At this point, we were still keeping with the idea of the Caribbean resort because even with the spring discount, the only Deluxe that slept 5, that was available was the Boardwalk and it was out of our price range.
We were within our 180 day window, so we sat down to talk ADR's. We've done trips with and without the DP and were not going to have the plan this trip because Nolan is a "Disney adult" and doesn't eat like an adult...unless it's steak....or BW3's wings.
With a shorter trip, we decided to just have one ADR because Brian wanted to "maximize" park time. Can we say closet Disney Addict?
We looked over the places we'd eaten, the QS menu at the Caribbean and finally decided to try for our single ADR at....The Crystal Palace. I'm sure it's not everyone's idea of the place to eat, but it has a menu that fits the varied tastes of my crew and they haven't stopped harassing me about NOT scheduling a meal there on our last trip.
Plans set, we just needed to wait...until the next ch-ch-change
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Ch-Ch-Changes July 2015
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I love the photo of your 4 boys in the theater! This was a winter for the books, for sure, and it's still on-going. I wonder when the piles of snow (or "snirt") will be completely gone! It's a pain to keep ch-ch-changing your dates, but at least you were able to do so! Enjoy your spring break!
Sorry you had so many crazy snow days and delays. I have had to change our trip days one year due to snow days and I was not a happy camper so I feel your pain. I am right there with you on the dining plan. The whole "Disney Adult" thing just makes you want to smack someone. Jonathon is the same way, rarely eats as much as an adult would (probably because he eats all day long) and no way near worth adding on the dining plan for that. They need a junior dining plan or at least change the age to 12 or something but it is what it is. I can't wait to read more about your changes!!
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Oh, the Disney "adults"! I have 3 of those now. Disney wants me to pay an insane amount of money for the DDP. No thank you, I'll pay OOP.
Hoping there are no more ch-ch-changes! Although sometimes changes are good, especially if they add more Disney time.
Mayra, I still can't believe your boys are all in that age range now. We paid OOP on our last trip because we couldn't get the DP with the YES tickets and we found that we liked it better. We saved money and ate closer to our typical food patterns on a non vacation so we didn't feel guilty when we splurged and got a desert - and I think we appreciated the desert even more.
There are more changes (2 big ones in fact) but in the end, it helps us have more Disney time
Quote:
Originally Posted by dutchdisneyfamily
Crystal Palace is a favorite of ours. Even with teenagers they love the food and the characters. Are you eying there for breakfast?
At this point in the trip, we were thinking breakfast, but I hadn't booked anything yet. It's now a firm dinner ADR It was mid February when we planned this portion (to give you a time reference)
Quote:
Originally Posted by chezp
What a pain about the snow days impacting on your plans like that.
Being from Ohio, I'm kind of used to snow and travel hiccups, but we'd never planned a June trip so it really hadn't impacted much. For 2016, we're thinking of June simply because we finish the school year right before our Memorial Day...and if we have another rough winter, we already know when the make up days will be. It really was a calendar hiccup caused by a state transition this year.
Quote:
Originally Posted by lauriep
I love the photo of your 4 boys in the theater! This was a winter for the books, for sure, and it's still on-going. I wonder when the piles of snow (or "snirt") will be completely gone! It's a pain to keep ch-ch-changing your dates, but at least you were able to do so! Enjoy your spring break!
My Dad looked so comfy with the boys. I love seeing them all piled up on him
Snirt love it! We (thankfully) have almost all the snirt gone...now just to wait for the great warm-up.
Quote:
Originally Posted by taylan1
Sorry you had so many crazy snow days and delays. I have had to change our trip days one year due to snow days and I was not a happy camper so I feel your pain. I am right there with you on the dining plan. The whole "Disney Adult" thing just makes you want to smack someone. Jonathon is the same way, rarely eats as much as an adult would (probably because he eats all day long) and no way near worth adding on the dining plan for that. They need a junior dining plan or at least change the age to 12 or something but it is what it is. I can't wait to read more about your changes!!
You know a couple of the changes
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Ch-Ch-Changes July 2015
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What a fun visit with the grandparents! I have two "Disney adults". My DS is 13 and has a growing appetite, but mostly kid preferences. ( He is getting more adventurous.) My dd is 11. She is a grazer and quite picky. So, no meal plan for us for several more years. Following along for the rest of the changes!
What a fun visit with the grandparents! I have two "Disney adults". My DS is 13 and has a growing appetite, but mostly kid preferences. ( He is getting more adventurous.) My dd is 11. She is a grazer and quite picky. So, no meal plan for us for several more years. Following along for the rest of the changes!
So glad I'm not alone in this! My Dad actually found a set of old (1979?) tickets tucked in a Disney Brochure. The "Disney adult" age was 12 back then.
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The Fun, Old-Fashioned Family Vacation, 3.0 http://www.passporterboards.com/foru...ml#post4472933
Ch-Ch-Changes July 2015
[URL="http://www.passporterboards.com/forums/sharing-adventure-disney-world-trip-reports/288847-ch-ch-changes-ptr-july-16-24-a.html"]
Luke and I were talking at one point this winter when our school districts had missed 2 weeks for snow and extreme that we were so glad we no longer had to plan and replan around school schedules. Sorry you've had to change dates over and over.
What a pain about the snow and delays. Looks and sounds like you had a nice weekend with your family. I love those free things to do!
I'm hoping for the winter we had here next year as well - no snow days for us and I'd like to not pull Dylan at the end of school but with DVC we plan so far ahead it's hard to change just a few months before. I gave him a 2 day grace period.
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but somehow, the update didn't post? Maybe that's what I get for trying to "think Disney while at work"
but my kiddos have a different spring break
which derailed our original WDW plans. What's a mom to do? I decided to request a vacation day for them on the 30th so I could take them to my parents' house for the weekend. Since I've been back at work full time, and the boys are now getting into sports, these visits have become far and few between. In fact, it was the first time I'd been back there since MLK weekend, and it was my first solo trip with the kids in over a year
The boys also checked out the planetarium and as a show had just finished, the teacher gave the kids a free mini lesson on the 86 constellations. I'll always remember that now because he reminded us that Ohio has 86 counties
We also can't use personal or sick leave on the last contracted day.
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