So I heard back from the manager at HRH, and all is set. All I have to do is make my reservations, and they will be certain that we have the same room we had in 2008. They SO TOTALLY ROCK!!
We have been talking about dining as well. Keep in mind that we have to plan as many details as far ahead as possible for dd17 to be able to process and deal with being away from home and her routine. So, having said that, we went back over the meal planner from 2008 and chose many of the same places. Most she remembered and is excited to return to. Since she knows she can enjoy something off their menu (much to our amazement. . .she NEVER gets tired of grilled chicken salad) and chose a few new places, but I will have to be certain I can get those menus over the next couple months. We will have to look over them to be sure they have something she can recognize and accept.
Last time we didn't go to Mythos because I was worried about their menu. I'm going to look it over again (think I can get it online) and if they don't have something she is comfortable with, I think I will call and ask if they will accommodate her. The rest of us really, really want to dine there. She did fine at Emeril's before and we hadn't even planned for it ahead of time. She worried about it for a couple hours during the day before we went, but she didn't freak out or refuse to go, and once there, she enjoyed the experience. It was so wonderful to see her laugh and smile in a situation that was completely "unprepared". Actually, we had a hard time getting her to return to the hotel after the meal, which late for us anyway, and then a walk around CityWalk. She didn't want to go back she was so jazzed up from her big night that it was like midnight before we could go back to HRH.
As usual, I digress. . .but I wanted to put up what we had decided so far. . . just in case anyone really cares. Most of the places we went last time, so have a good idea of the cost and the few places we weren't super happy with won't be getting a return visit. So far we have decided on IHOP (yeah, I know, big deal right? but we don't get there hardly ever and the kids love it), Joe's Crab Shack (none in our area), Sweet Tomatoes (same thing, none in our area), Lone Star (or another steak house. . living in IL we get great steak whenever we want, but we had a really good meal there last time which was reasonably priced and everyone enjoyed) Emerils, Margaritaville, Hard Rock Cafe, and NBA City (all on CityWalk), Mythos (IOA) Thunder Falls Terrace (IOA) Mama Della's (PBH) and whatever restaurant is in WWoHP. We will also go to Sharks's Grill (SeaWorld), The Kitchen (HRH - for breakfast buffet. . yyuuummmmm) Lombard's Seafood Grille and Richter's Burger Co (both in Studios). We will be at Aquatica two days and renting a cabana on both. Their cabana's are really nice and last time we ordered from a menu, specified what time we wanted the food delivered and it was good. We will do that again on both days. We will eat another day at SeaWorld, but have left that open to "family choice". . .which means we have to at least go somewhere dd17 can get chicken strips and fries, which is pretty much everywhere. Since we are planning to stay at Residence Inn SeaWorld International Center for several days on the front side of our vacation, we will take advantage of the breakfast included in the hotel price/package. From my research so far, it appears that they have a "full American" breakfast every morning along with the usual "continental" breakfast. This works for dd17 as well because she will want cereal with milk every morning, which is always readily available at those type of breakfasts (God help us if they don't have Fruit Loops or Fruity Pebbles
) If we get tired of that fare after a few days, we will find something outside the hotel. I've budgeted for that circumstance as well. We will need to eat at Magic Kingdom (under much duress have I agreed to go there) but I have no idea what is available, if we need to make ressies and I am being very passive/aggressive by not researching this when I know exactly where to go to get all the information I could ever need or want about any Disney park. I will eventually. . .I just have to get past my HUGE reluctance and objection to ever stepping foot in any Disney park again (so I've carefully avoided stating MY PERSONAL OPINION about this issue on any forum here ever. I will continue to keep that opinion to myself because it is a lose/lose situation if I were to try to explain why I feel the way I do. I'm not stepping in that steamy pile for anything. . . ) So, our Magic Kingdom day is completely unplanned, other than I know we will be visiting on a Monday and I know that Disney takes more preparation than any other park in the entire world and that's the one I have been working on the least (ok, how about none, still in denial). I'll get there. . . .
So far we've got this. . . we will be leaving our home (central Illinois) on Wednesday, Tuesday March 15th, 2011 after the kids get out of school. We will drive straight through (dh and I take 4 hour shifts more or less) so each of us can get some sleep. We will stop for supper somewhere in northern Kentucky, just over the IL/KY border then only gas stops until we get to IHOP in Gainesville, FL. This way, same as before, kids can sleep through much of that drive.
After breakfast, we will finish the drive to Orlando and hopefully check in early at Residence Inn SeaWorld to take advantage of the "tickets for length of your stay" deal. I need to find out yet if it that includes your check in and check out days, though I believe it does. Once we check in and get our tickets, we will be off to SeaWorld for a slow day. Dh and I will obviously not be fully rested, so we figure a few hours at SW, then an early evening at the hotel for swimming and a "family choice" dinner. Probably that means take-out from somewhere like TGI Fridays. The next two days (Thu & Fri) will be Aquatica days with Joe's Crab Shack and Sweet Tomatoes, respectively, on the planner.
Sat & Sun will be SW days, except if we have done everything by the end of the day Saturday or even after a couple of hours Sunday (might go in just to feed the dolphins at opening) then have a shopping/swimming day. Monday will be for Magic Kindom and will be an open to close day (so says DH who really, really, really wants to see the light parade. . whatever it's called). There's a whole very sad story behind this, which is the ONLY reason I am capitulating on the Disney park thing anyway.
Tues moves us to HRH (yes!) and the Universal parks for the remainder of our days, which will be four. Tickets have really gotten very expensive and we are hoping that they will come down in price before we go in a year, so I'm holding off on buying anything to see what will come along. Those days are pretty much unplanned, other than we have to know where we are going to eat (dd17 again) so for now we have only lunch and supper planned. I think we will go to Studios on Tues and Thurs and IOA on Wed and Fri. We are thinking NBA City on Tues, Emeril's on Wed, Margaritaville on Thur and Hard Rock Cafe on Friday. Not sure how everything else will fit in, but depending on reviews of whatever restaurant is in WWoHP we will probably want to go there. It's up in the air, then, for Thunder Falls, Lombard's and Richter's. Likely we will leave off Richter's. . . we can get really good burgers other places and Thunder Falls Terrace, while cafeteria style, has the cool view. Lombard's is full service, a nice sit-down break from the day and has good reviews. Breakfast for those days will either be in the hotel room, except for Saturday when we will dine at The Kitchen (did I say yum), or at one of the parks. I'd like to try PastaMore' for breakfast and maybe Croissant Moon Bakery. We ate at Boulangerie last time, has some muffins and such, and it was ok to good. Nothing spectacular, but good all the same. We shared items from there because they are so big. We purchase like 3 things then shared them (also with the birds and squirrels and chipmonks cuz that's waaay more fun than eating ourselves . . . in the world of my children).
Oh, one other thing. . . I don't think I've complained nearly enough about how much prices have increased. Renting a van is going to cost substantially more and so are Universal tickets. Our meal budget is $400 more than last time and hotel costs are up as well. I think our budget is going to be at least a grand more than last time
But I haven't told DH this yet and I'm going to blame it all on Disney
so he can't complain.
Until next time. . . . .