Flossbolna
Sea days are just so relaxing!
- Joined
- Sep 8, 2006
This is not your typical “family travels to WDW, stays there for a week” trip report. This is a bit different and has elements in it from WDW, DVC, Universal and Miami.
To understand why this is, first a bit of an introduction of the two main characters:
We are a couple in our forties, Magdalene (that’s me, flossbolna here on the DIS) and Michael (without a username on the DIS but his writing will appear in this lovely color here in this trip report). who wonders why it is important you know we are in our 40s. We have an unusual long distance relationship since I am German and live in Germany while Michael is American and lives in Southern Florida. Yes, it sounds strange, but yes, it does work for us.
We have been together for about 4 years now. Yes, but it feels like 70 or 80. We are both pretty big Disney parks fans (which does not mean that we cannot sometime be quite critical of certain things Disney does – I am sure this trip report will give us quite some opportunity to talk about some of Disney’s recent decisions that we do not agree of. So, this is not going to be a trip report just filled with flying unicorns (I heard they now have their special drinks in the US at Starbucks…) and happiness). They did. They came and went. I only saw one attempted as they didn't have all the ingredients. It was shared by a bunch of high schoolers who were not impressed. Like me and the burgers at the Liberty Inn ... but I am getting ahead of myself as that will come in a later trip report about a prior trip. Did I lose you already? I'm sure the guy in Delaware is lost, but that's likely because well ... you know him.
Starting with my very first cruise in 2013 with Michael I have been writing trip reports about our travels together: several cruises, WDW in December, DL and California). This is going to be a bit different from my previous reports. Yes, we are going to make you laugh and cry and fill your hearts with love and joy and pixie dust. (Ok, I am not sure why Michael is setting your expectations so high, I would advise to immediately lower them back all the way down to the bottom...)
It really did not start out as a true vacation that I thought I would write a report about.
With Michael living in Florida and me living in Germany we kind of have to plan when we spend time together. I had a long trip over Thanksgiving and in early December visiting Michael and his family and then going on a cruise on the Fantasy and ending the vacation with a long stay at VWL where I became an Annual Passholder thanks to some strange Disney accounting (yes, Disney really undercharged me) which made it suddenly affordable to change my 14-day UK unlimited ticket into an AP.
A truly up-and-down trip that you will all get to read about in January of 2020. Too bad we can't provide future trip report construction walls to keep you gasping in suspense for the wonders of future adventures!
But sometime in the early fall I had come across some really amazing air fares for early 2017 and Michael and I had talked about how much I would like to escape the grey winter here in Germany. I looked at timing at work and was able to take 10 days off in late February to use that cheap airfare. While we missed Valentine's Day by a couple of days, it still felt like it was close enough for us to call this our Valentine's Day "date". Originally we had thought that we would maybe escape to the Keys for a couple of days or so, but mainly the purpose of the trip was to just see each other.
And visit the outlet mall as all Germans do!
Then DVC announced that they were going to offer events at all the WDW parks throughout the year and it turned out that the first event was going to happen during my 10 days in Florida. As a DVC member I really wanted to take part in this event. With that plans changed and we knew we would spend a couple of days in Orlando instead.
I love free stuff. After all the dollars and euros we have given the Mouse over the years, I want whatever I can get back!
So, getting the AP then really made sense since I knew I would be back soon anyway.
And then a friend of ours, who worked at Universal Studios, offered us free tickets to go there for a day. And somehow then the plan of a couple of days turned into three nights in Orlando. And Michael’s mother and brother decided to join us and friends of Michael with their 6 year old son came to Orlando as well to meet up with us. So, we ended up with quite a group.
People love being with an international supercouple. We can't help it. Not our fault that we're spectacular.
After some long searching for hotels which was not easy for the week after Presidents’ Day and the weekend of the Princess Half Marathon, we all ended up booking rooms at Cabana Bay Beach Resort at Universal. They were offering some really good Florida Resident rates there during our stay and I was lucky to be traveling with Florida residents!
We really struggled booking something at first and settled on a nice timeshare resort very close to WDW that we all could share. But then we were able to get a suite at Cabana Bay on the Team Member Red Carpet rate, which is $50 a night, and add a regular room at the FL resident rate, which was about $130. A no-brainer. CB is wonderful and much nicer than the WDW value motels. In most ways it is nicer than the WDW moderates as well for far better prices. And, yes, it has plenty of magic.
So, this trip report will be a short one just with a few chapters on the different things we did during our stay in Orlando, but also our one day excursion to Miami Beach. I hope you will enjoy reading about it!
I hope you do too. If you do, then it's because of me. If you don't, then blame the Bavarian. ... Also, I can't help but think we still owe a report about that January 2016 winter trip to Europa and DLP before my memories fade and I can't add the amazing 9,654 words of substance that I do on average. He fails to mention the amazing picture book I recently made for him of our Panama Canal cruise. That cost me nearly as much time as writing a trip report...
Up Next: Southern Florida Adventures
To understand why this is, first a bit of an introduction of the two main characters:
We are a couple in our forties, Magdalene (that’s me, flossbolna here on the DIS) and Michael (without a username on the DIS but his writing will appear in this lovely color here in this trip report). who wonders why it is important you know we are in our 40s. We have an unusual long distance relationship since I am German and live in Germany while Michael is American and lives in Southern Florida. Yes, it sounds strange, but yes, it does work for us.
We have been together for about 4 years now. Yes, but it feels like 70 or 80. We are both pretty big Disney parks fans (which does not mean that we cannot sometime be quite critical of certain things Disney does – I am sure this trip report will give us quite some opportunity to talk about some of Disney’s recent decisions that we do not agree of. So, this is not going to be a trip report just filled with flying unicorns (I heard they now have their special drinks in the US at Starbucks…) and happiness). They did. They came and went. I only saw one attempted as they didn't have all the ingredients. It was shared by a bunch of high schoolers who were not impressed. Like me and the burgers at the Liberty Inn ... but I am getting ahead of myself as that will come in a later trip report about a prior trip. Did I lose you already? I'm sure the guy in Delaware is lost, but that's likely because well ... you know him.
Starting with my very first cruise in 2013 with Michael I have been writing trip reports about our travels together: several cruises, WDW in December, DL and California). This is going to be a bit different from my previous reports. Yes, we are going to make you laugh and cry and fill your hearts with love and joy and pixie dust. (Ok, I am not sure why Michael is setting your expectations so high, I would advise to immediately lower them back all the way down to the bottom...)
It really did not start out as a true vacation that I thought I would write a report about.
With Michael living in Florida and me living in Germany we kind of have to plan when we spend time together. I had a long trip over Thanksgiving and in early December visiting Michael and his family and then going on a cruise on the Fantasy and ending the vacation with a long stay at VWL where I became an Annual Passholder thanks to some strange Disney accounting (yes, Disney really undercharged me) which made it suddenly affordable to change my 14-day UK unlimited ticket into an AP.
A truly up-and-down trip that you will all get to read about in January of 2020. Too bad we can't provide future trip report construction walls to keep you gasping in suspense for the wonders of future adventures!
But sometime in the early fall I had come across some really amazing air fares for early 2017 and Michael and I had talked about how much I would like to escape the grey winter here in Germany. I looked at timing at work and was able to take 10 days off in late February to use that cheap airfare. While we missed Valentine's Day by a couple of days, it still felt like it was close enough for us to call this our Valentine's Day "date". Originally we had thought that we would maybe escape to the Keys for a couple of days or so, but mainly the purpose of the trip was to just see each other.
And visit the outlet mall as all Germans do!
Then DVC announced that they were going to offer events at all the WDW parks throughout the year and it turned out that the first event was going to happen during my 10 days in Florida. As a DVC member I really wanted to take part in this event. With that plans changed and we knew we would spend a couple of days in Orlando instead.
I love free stuff. After all the dollars and euros we have given the Mouse over the years, I want whatever I can get back!
So, getting the AP then really made sense since I knew I would be back soon anyway.
And then a friend of ours, who worked at Universal Studios, offered us free tickets to go there for a day. And somehow then the plan of a couple of days turned into three nights in Orlando. And Michael’s mother and brother decided to join us and friends of Michael with their 6 year old son came to Orlando as well to meet up with us. So, we ended up with quite a group.
People love being with an international supercouple. We can't help it. Not our fault that we're spectacular.
After some long searching for hotels which was not easy for the week after Presidents’ Day and the weekend of the Princess Half Marathon, we all ended up booking rooms at Cabana Bay Beach Resort at Universal. They were offering some really good Florida Resident rates there during our stay and I was lucky to be traveling with Florida residents!
We really struggled booking something at first and settled on a nice timeshare resort very close to WDW that we all could share. But then we were able to get a suite at Cabana Bay on the Team Member Red Carpet rate, which is $50 a night, and add a regular room at the FL resident rate, which was about $130. A no-brainer. CB is wonderful and much nicer than the WDW value motels. In most ways it is nicer than the WDW moderates as well for far better prices. And, yes, it has plenty of magic.
So, this trip report will be a short one just with a few chapters on the different things we did during our stay in Orlando, but also our one day excursion to Miami Beach. I hope you will enjoy reading about it!
I hope you do too. If you do, then it's because of me. If you don't, then blame the Bavarian. ... Also, I can't help but think we still owe a report about that January 2016 winter trip to Europa and DLP before my memories fade and I can't add the amazing 9,654 words of substance that I do on average. He fails to mention the amazing picture book I recently made for him of our Panama Canal cruise. That cost me nearly as much time as writing a trip report...
Up Next: Southern Florida Adventures