PTR: A Spring Fling on the Dark Side ...2 Muggles Celebrate in Diagon Alley!

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

Gina.......the place looks lovely........

Good luck on the health kick.......but oh my giving up on straighteners ...........that's brave!! I have 4 pairs and would lost with out them......sad I know........

Hope your weather gets a bit better soon too..........

lol, you have me beat, schumi....I only have a pair of straighteners (okay, maybe 3....but the 3rd is a purse-sized one so it shouldn't officially count....or maybe it should ....how pathetic of me to even carry one around in my handbag! ).

It's funny how many people have made mention of my hair this week:

"Oh, you curled your hair!".

"Nope, I just didn't straighten it".

"You mean.....its been wavy all along?".

"Um....yeah " .

It will be interesting to see how my new 'do fares in the Orlando humidity .

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

Well, its another dreadful weather day here in the frosty north. This was my neighbourhood as daylight broke:







Snow, snow, snow. BLAH!!!

In trip planning news......

I noticed this morning that Characters in Flight, the balloon ride at DTD, is on Groupon for 44% off.

We are so close to DTD at the Vistana, I am wondering if we should add it to the plans .

I am also wondering if I'd have a panic attack somewhere part way up. Heights generally aren't my thing. But I do enjoy a nice view.

I will have to chat with Steve and see what he thinks. We'll have to decide fairly soon, as the Groupon is only being offered for the next 3 days.

 

[Lynne G]

Was it the cost that bothered him? Or is he just not a big fan of Orlando?

I hope you guys are getting some better weather today. Our groundhog predicted an early spring (silly Wiarton Willy) but methinks we're in for another 6 weeks of winter. The snow rages on again today .

Here, we have Punxsutawney Phil, and he didn't have good news for us. Oh well.
It's both the cost and time off. He actually does not like crowds or travel. I think he did enjoy our Christmas trip though.

 

[Lynne G]

Oh, and go on the balloon ride. We have a similar one here at our Zoo. While I am not a fan of heights, I find it ok to go on, as long as I mostly look out and not down. It's a smooth ride, and it won't operate in windy conditions. I've been on our Zoo one many times. At least there's a deal for it, as I assume it's as expensive as our Zoo's. Since I have a Zoo membership, I do get free rides. I think it would be a fun thing to do, as for parking at DTD though, I'd go on a week day morning and hope for a spot. When we were there last summer, it was a crap shoot. Be prepared to walk.

 

[pigletto]

Your neighbourhood looks exactly like my neighbourhood. I think I could live with the snow if we would just see the sun!!! I looked at the weather network this morning. It actually said "ZERO" hours of sunlight for today and tomorrow. Zero. So depressing.

I think you should try the Characters in Flight ride!! I would do it myself but the last time I suggested it I got an emphatic and resounding NO!! from my group. Honestly I was surprised at how adamant they were. It wasn't until later that I realized it's kind of strange that ds and Dh loved parasailing at the Contemporary but won't go up in a balloon. I'd love to see what you think. I heard a rumour it might be going away. I can't remember where.. but it must have been here.

I just booked our one night at a Universal Deluxe for express pass. I had been waiting and waiting to see what the tax return looked like before I decided but I finally made the leap for two reasons. One, because my birthday was last weekend and I told the family instead of a present I wanted the one night at a Deluxe to be my present. And two, I looked tonight and there was only one reasonable AP rate left at one of the hotels for the night we need. Other than that there were hospitality suites at over $650 a night. So I figured I should snap up the garden view left at..... PORTIFINO BAY!!!

It came out to $350 with the AP rate after exchange (ouch!) but it's my gift and gets us the two days of express for our last two days at Universal! So I figure we can take it easy and hit early entry while we are at Cabana Bay and then go ride everything we want over and over the last two days. I am so excited!!! We've stayed at Royal Pacific around 5 times and we love it. But this trip is all new and Portifino Bay looks beautiful!

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

Oh, and go on the balloon ride. We have a similar one here at our Zoo. While I am not a fan of heights, I find it ok to go on, as long as I mostly look out and not down. It's a smooth ride, and it won't operate in windy conditions. I've been on our Zoo one many times. At least there's a deal for it, as I assume it's as expensive as our Zoo's. Since I have a Zoo membership, I do get free rides. I think it would be a fun thing to do, as for parking at DTD though, I'd go on a week day morning and hope for a spot. When we were there last summer, it was a crap shoot. Be prepared to walk.

Well, I ran the Groupon by Steve and he was very.....neutral?....about it. He was more than willing to do it if its something I wanted, but wasn't overly inclined to partake otherwise. So, I think I'll save the $ and forget it. I think the parking and construction woes at DTD are a turn off for him. That, and wondering if he'll be holding a barf bag for his wife as he admires the view from the balloon .

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

Your neighbourhood looks exactly like my neighbourhood. I think I could live with the snow if we would just see the sun!!! I looked at the weather network this morning. It actually said "ZERO" hours of sunlight for today and tomorrow. Zero. So depressing.

I think you should try the Characters in Flight ride!! I would do it myself but the last time I suggested it I got an emphatic and resounding NO!! from my group. Honestly I was surprised at how adamant they were. It wasn't until later that I realized it's kind of strange that ds and Dh loved parasailing at the Contemporary but won't go up in a balloon. I'd love to see what you think. I heard a rumour it might be going away. I can't remember where.. but it must have been here.

I just booked our one night at a Universal Deluxe for express pass. I had been waiting and waiting to see what the tax return looked like before I decided but I finally made the leap for two reasons. One, because my birthday was last weekend and I told the family instead of a present I wanted the one night at a Deluxe to be my present. And two, I looked tonight and there was only one reasonable AP rate left at one of the hotels for the night we need. Other than that there were hospitality suites at over $650 a night. So I figured I should snap up the garden view left at..... PORTIFINO BAY!!!

It came out to $350 with the AP rate after exchange (ouch!) but it's my gift and gets us the two days of express for our last two days at Universal! So I figure we can take it easy and hit early entry while we are at Cabana Bay and then go ride everything we want over and over the last two days. I am so excited!!! We've stayed at Royal Pacific around 5 times and we love it. But this trip is all new and Portifino Bay looks beautiful!

Yay for the Portofino Bay reservation! What an awesome birthday gift! It will be so much fun to hit all your favourite rides....over and over and over again....to end off your trip .

Your getaway is coming up SO FAST ... how many more days to go??

 

[pigletto]

Yay for the Portofino Bay reservation! What an awesome birthday gift! It will be so much fun to hit all your favourite rides....over and over and over again....to end off your trip .

Your getaway is coming up SO FAST ... how many more days to go??

40 days exactly until we leave and spend the night at the airport hotel !
Maybe everyone is underwhelmed with that balloon ride idea and that's why it's being offered on Groupon!

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

40 days exactly until we leave and spend the night at the airport hotel !
Maybe everyone is underwhelmed with that balloon ride idea and that's why it's being offered on Groupon!

40 days! (well, 39 now ) I am super jealous .

I am thinking the ongoing construction and parking at Downtown Disney has to be impacting the amount of business being generated by Characters in Flight, too. And some folks have said that it seems to be closed a lot due to wind. Profits must be faltering at least somewhat for the ride to be offered on Groupon.

Lots more snow in the forecast for us this weekend....sigh. We got about 10 cm last night, with another 25 projected by Sunday night (coming in waves over the course of Saturday and Sunday). This describes me quite well today:

 

[coastgirl]

Pigletto, we are doing the same thing--we have three nights at CBBR and then I booked a fourth at RPR to try out the express passes for a couple of days.

Aaaand my neighbourhood looks the same. The kids had THREE snow days this week. THREE. Crazy. March 9 can't get here soon enough.

I saw the groupon too. Did you see the one for a manatee snorkle? I know you were looking for manatees...

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

Pigletto, we are doing the same thing--we have three nights at CBBR and then I booked a fourth at RPR to try out the express passes for a couple of days.

Aaaand my neighbourhood looks the same. The kids had THREE snow days this week. THREE. Crazy. March 9 can't get here soon enough.

I saw the groupon too. Did you see the one for a manatee snorkle? I know you were looking for manatees...

Seeing the manatees is something we are hoping to do on our December trip, so I am guessing the Groupon would be expired by then (most don't seem to have a redemption period longer than 180 days....and most often, it seems its 120 days or less). I will be most certainly keeping an eye on Groupon and Livingsocial later in the year for something similar, though.

It's snow, snow, snowing here again today. I am beginning to feel like I'm living in the middle of the north pole. If Santa himself strolled down my street, I would not be at all surprised!!

 

[pigletto]

LOL.. your minion sums up my feelings quite nicely!
There's more snow coming for us too. There's barely anywhere for it to go. The kids I watch brought little shovels to the bus stop yesterday to make an igloo out of the snowbank while they waited for the bus!

Coastgirl, I am really looking forward to Cabana Bay and PBH. I've never stayed at either. We probably would have booked RPR for our one night of express again but it wasn't available. We really like RPR. In fact everything was pretty picked over so I am expecting it to be very busy. I'm glad I was able to snag a Passholder Rate at all. With a whole week just for the Universal Parks I am thinking crowds or not, we're going to get to see the things we want to see. This trip was booked for sunshine and pool time so there will be lots of that too I hope!

I watched some report on what the rest of the winter will look like for us yesterday. The weather people were saying we'd probably get some nasty storms in March to end the winter. So of course my thoughts turned to our flights. I swear if we couldn't get up in the air I am prepared to walk at this point. I WILL get to sunshine no matter what it takes!

 

[disney ny]

I am so excited I found this report! I just love your writing. I am so jealous you have 3 trips in the works while I have 0

I am thinking maybe February of next year. I feel you with the cold and snow since we live in upstate NY. Looks like a nasty next few days here and we already have a foot+ of snow on the ground. Congratulations too on your healthy changes! Maybe you can inspire me!!

 

[coastgirl]

I watched some report on what the rest of the winter will look like for us yesterday. The weather people were saying we'd probably get some nasty storms in March to end the winter. So of course my thoughts turned to our flights. I swear if we couldn't get up in the air I am prepared to walk at this point. I WILL get to sunshine no matter what it takes!

I'm with you, Pigletto. Though cross-country skis might be more to the point for the first part at least. And I am not checking the long-term weather forecasts...

 

[pigletto]

I'm with you, Pigletto. Though cross-country skis might be more to the point for the first part at least. And I am not checking the long-term weather forecasts...

Gina and I have spent many a day fretting about hurricanes together when planning summer trips. It doesn't matter when you plan... there's always some sort of weather to worry about it seems .

So we did our taxes today and our return is looking to be quite a bit more than I thought. We'll have to adjust what we have taken off in the upcoming year I guess. But it was a nice surprise and with the unexpected windfall we decided to go for 3 nights at Cabana bay and 3 nights at Portifino Bay. Yes, I have serious upgrade-itis.

ETA) After messing around online and realizing I would lose the AP rate at Cabana Bay altogether if I didn't stay at least 4 nights, we decided to go with 4 nights CBBR and 2 nights PBH.

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

I am so excited I found this report! I just love your writing. I am so jealous you have 3 trips in the works while I have 0

I am thinking maybe February of next year. I feel you with the cold and snow since we live in upstate NY. Looks like a nasty next few days here and we already have a foot+ of snow on the ground. Congratulations too on your healthy changes! Maybe you can inspire me!!

Hello, and welcome aboard! Glad to have you reading along with us, and joining in the chat .

Our multi-trip year is definitely buoyed by the fact that May and October are just the two of us (one or two less people for airfare, food, tickets, etc.), and December will be in lieu of traditional Christmas gifts. And our offsite stays really stretch the accommodations budget.....the more cost-effective we can make things, the more we can go. Unless our dollar rebounds significantly, though, I am guessing this will be the last 3 trip year for a while....the exchange is making the costs rather difficult to swallow at times.

Fingers crossed that you can make next February work for you! Sure would be nice to escape our northern winter for a week .

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

Gina and I have spent many a day fretting about hurricanes together when planning summer trips. It doesn't matter when you plan... there's always some sort of weather to worry about it seems .

So we did our taxes today and our return is looking to be quite a bit more than I thought. We'll have to adjust what we have taken off in the upcoming year I guess. But it was a nice surprise and with the unexpected windfall we decided to go for 3 nights at Cabana bay and 3 nights at Portifino Bay. Yes, I have serious upgrade-itis.

ETA) After messing around online and realizing I would lose the AP rate at Cabana Bay altogether if I didn't stay at least 4 nights, we decided to go with 4 nights CBBR and 2 nights PBH.

Amen on the weather stresses . I am already thinking to myself "what if its a rainy week?" as far as our May trip goes. It shouldn't be hurricaney, it shouldn't be ungodly hot.....so I guess rain is my next biggest concern . lol, first world problems, I know.

A big WOOHOO on the tax refunds! I sure hope we are as fortunate! (still waiting on Steve and Jake's T4's and a whole host of RRSP receipts, so it will be a while before we can file.....sigh) I think we can all relate to the upgrade-itis....I know its syndrome I suffer from on a regular basis . I like to think its a show of love to my family.....I just want our trips to be as awesome as possible, because I care so darn much about their enjoyment .

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

I'm with you, Pigletto. Though cross-country skis might be more to the point for the first part at least. And I am not checking the long-term weather forecasts...

Are you guys still getting snow in the east? It's still coming down here....snow AND freezing rain to boot. C'mon, spring!

 

[pigletto]

So is it just me or is there a Universal commercial on tv every 30 minutes these days?! I must have seen 15 of them this week alone and I don't watch a ton of television. It sure is making me excited for this trip I'll tell you!

36 days to go!!!!

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

So is it just me or is there a Universal commercial on tv every 30 minutes these days?! I must have seen 15 of them this week alone and I don't watch a ton of television. It sure is making me excited for this trip I'll tell you!

36 days to go!!!!

lol, we noticed the same thing!! We were being slothful and watching TV in bed the other night, and I think over the course of a couple hours we saw the Universal ads at least half a dozen times. Its like the TV knew. Creepy .

36 days for you....that's soooo awesome! 81 for us (80 if I can count until the day we leave for Syracuse as opposed to the day we arrive in Florida....that one day makes a huge difference, you know ). After the day I had today, it can't come soon enough. You ever had one of those Mondays where just about everything goes wrong? Steve has been home all day sicker than a dog, I was late leaving the house for work, I forgot my keys to my office and had to come all the way home to get them, one of my bosses was in a dreadful mood all day (still haven't figured out who peed in his cornflakes this morning), I was soooo busy I ended up working through my lunch just to keep up, and then....when I finally get home to relax a bit before heading out for my regular evening swim....I get an SOS call from Jake that his car is stuck in the snow in the college parking lot, his keys are in the ignition with the car running, and the buddies who were trying to push him out accidentally locked the doors.



Yep, needless to say, I didn't get out for my swim.

I could have told Jake to just call CAA (he has premium coverage) but we figured it would be faster to drive over with the spare key and push him out ourselves. Plus, we were morbidly curious as to how he managed to get himself wedged into the snow. Turns out the college failed to plow the lot over the course of the weekend, over which we received 30+ cm and some freezing rain last night. So he parked early this morning in the snow-covered lot (which had become chewed-up and rough with people mogging through it), and with the subzero temperatures all day long, he just kind of .... froze?.....in place.



I need a vacation!!! lol