Originally Posted By vbdad55 yeah, for the most part ( also still over there ) - if I can avoid letting my emotions get the best of me... It took a while to try and get past some stuff, but I am making the effort. I was off completely for a few weeks, then tried to just stay in community.... then though - what they hey...let's give it a shot again. I imagine like a self imposed rehab stint..LOL !
Originally Posted By danyoung I know exactly what you mean. I think I need a self-imposed rehab stint away from work!!!
Originally Posted By vbdad55 I wanted one too, but one like the truck driver from Georgia is getting -- with $80M after taxes in my pocket - LOL!
Originally Posted By Lake Nona >>Considering how miserably crowded the pools and recreation areas were during my last visit in May, I'd say that Joe Tourist is doing a lot of these things. I've never seen pools so crowded in my life. I also went to the hotel gym everyday and found it to be full of people, too.<< The WSJ has a good story on this subject a couple of weeks ago, how some of the resorts have hired "pool security" over prime chairs near the pool. As for the your hotel gym, The Swan and Dolphin charge $10.00 a day.
Originally Posted By RoadTrip My wife and I also find that WDW has many things to entertain us other than the parks. We particularly enjoy drinking over-priced liquor in various Disney Resort lounges. ;-)
Originally Posted By Lake Nona >>We particularly enjoy drinking over-priced liquor in various Disney Resort lounges.<< 18.00 beer pitchers at the ESPN Club.
Originally Posted By RoadTrip <<18.00 beer pitchers at the ESPN Club.>> $9 shots of Grand Marnier and $12 shots of Laphroaig single malt in the Belle Vue room at the Boardwalk. We're talking SERIOUS booze!! LOL
Originally Posted By Spirit of 74 <<Good to know there are folks taking advantage of the Priceline ponzi scheme.>> Why oh why am I not at surprised you've got issues with PL.com? I don't consider myself anything other than a very intelligent, savvy traveler. PL buys distressed inventory that would otherwise sit empty and sells it at a discount (sometimes not all that much, sometimes huge). Now, it has also branched out into being more of a travel agency ... I've booked great cruise deals through them. I don't consider their business a scheme ... I also expect them to be here for the long haul. A few years ago I got to meet Denny Crane himself at an industry function at Spago ... I was tempted to tell him how much I admired the company he advertised for, but we got into a much more interesting discussion.
Originally Posted By Spirit of 74 <<are you peaking at my spreadsheet for my next visit -- seriously have all 4 on the list.>> You are no more the typical WDW visitor than I am. You might be closer, but you still ain't it. Sometimes I'll skim thru the trip report boards here (and on other sites) and the one thing that 99% of them have in common (unless their written by UKers) is they never mention things like golf, tennis, pools, parasailing, boating, fishing, biking, hiking etc ...it's all about going on SPace Mountain eight times or grabbing a picture with Buzz ... or eating at Crystal Palace etc ...
Originally Posted By bobbelee9 Forget the price of the drinks. You spend all that money to go to the parks/resorts to drink??? No I'm not against drinking, I'm having a glass of wine now, but you can do that at home. On vacation, do what you don't/can't do at home. I know a couple who stayed at GF for a week and spent most of their time at the pool. IMO what a waste. Glad that's not what it takes to make me happy.
Originally Posted By Spirit of 74 The purpose of a vacation is different for everyone. For me, above all, it's to relax and get away from stress, work, etc ... if I'm going to stay at an amazing resort like DAK Lodge, you better believe I won't be getting up at 6 a.m. to head to a theme park, returning at 9-10 at night to sleep and repeating the next day ... I'll be sleeping in, relaxing in the amazing surroundings Disney created ... laying by the pool ... sitting near the firepit ... eating and drinking at the great dining locations. If I go to a park, it'll be a quick 2-3 visit. To me, anyone who would stay at the GF and not take advantage of the resort, is wasting a whole lot of $$$. Now bobbelee9, would you pass me a glass of that wine? My cup runneth empty.
Originally Posted By Labuda That reminds me... only 4 days until I can make our dinner reservation, Spirit!
Originally Posted By RoadTrip <<if I'm going to stay at an amazing resort like DAK Lodge, you better believe I won't be getting up at 6 a.m. to head to a theme park, returning at 9-10 at night to sleep and repeating the next day ... I'll be sleeping in, relaxing in the amazing surroundings Disney created ... laying by the pool ... sitting near the firepit ... eating and drinking at the great dining locations.>> BINGO!!! We enjoy the parks. Without the parks we would never go to WDW. But that doesn't mean we want to spend every waking moment in them. A typical day for us is to sleep in until 9:00 or so, have a leisurely breakfast and then get to a park about 11:00 AM. We stay there until about 5:00 PM (who would EVER want to spend more than 6 hours at once in a park?) when we find a nice place for dinner. Following dinner we end up most every night at Epcot to watch Illuminations. Sometimes we have a glass of wine at France... sometimes we have a glass of wine at Germany. One time I really went for it and had PLUM WINE at Japan. Following Illuminations we head back to the Boardwalk. If we are beat from the day's activities we go straight to our room. If we have some energy left, we go to the Belle Vue room at the Boardwalk and have Allan take care of us as only Allan can. And no... you can't do it at home. We had never tried Grand Marnier until our most recent trip to WDW. The menu at Spoodles had suggested it as an accompaniment to the Crème Brule desert. We tried it and it was wonderful. On another night we ordered a few from Allan and they were wonderful also. When we got home I decided to buy a bottle of Grand Marnier ($35 for 750 ml... YIKES) at the local liquor store. I brought it home and poured a taste of it for my wife and myself. How was it?? Meh... it was good but not worth $35 for 750 ml to drink at home. But would we once again pay $9 a shot to drink Grand Marnier at WDW?? Darn right we would. At WDW it is special!!
Originally Posted By bobbelee9 Well Spirit, they did have drinks delivered poolside at GF. But if that was all they wanted to do, they could have stayed in Mass, and just gone to a beach resort here. When there was only 1 park, we slept late, the kids played/swam in 7 Seas Lagoon (you could in those days) we went to Busch Garden, SeaWorld, Gatorland Zoo, Wax Museum, then to MK around 5 in the afternoon. But now, 4 parks, we spend all our time there, because, we enjoy the parks. Both my sons in law think we're crazy, they're only going to the parks for a couple hours each day, fine, that's what they want, do it. My 4 kids are like me, to the park! My husband goes his own way, strolls, takes pictures of the parades, fireworks, stage shows. One year he did the fishing excursion, as the ferry crossed by him on its way to the park, the captain, pointed out the "real live fisherman, ladies & gentlemen, not an animatronic" everyone aplauded, he was embarrased to death, never did that again. Everyone should do what they like best, I just think it's a major waste of money, if all you do is sit around the pool all day unless the pool is in your own backyard.
Originally Posted By davewasbaloo To me, what is great about WDW is choice. Our last trip we had great park days, and wonderful days where we lazed, watched the animals from our balcony, took in a story in AKl and enjoyed fine meals. We even enjoyed the fireworks from our balcony a couple of times. The parks are wonderful, but to me, the themed hotels, restaurants, and choice of activities are what makes WDW a great choice for a vacation.
Originally Posted By davewasbaloo We were in room 5555 and we could watch both Wishes and the bigger blasts from Illuminations while giraffes walked nto view. It was awesome! People tell you the main Savannah is best, but that not true. Where we were, we could watch the fireworks at night and in the morning (if we didn't rush to the parks) almost all the animals of Arusha savannah came past our room because it is near where the feeding cast enter the savannah. Very cool
