It's Good to be a Passholder :-) - a January 2020 Trip Report

Gina- That was amazing!! What a beautiful cheetah! I'm so glad you and Steve had an opportunity to experience this encounter. Kudos to Busch Gardens for all of the safety protocols as well. What an amazing and unique experience!
 
Wow, just wow to the Cheetah interaction! I am having a hard time taming 8 week old kittens, getting a cheetah to volunteer to wear a harness? It sounds like it was just amazing.

LOL, I know, right?

I absolutely want to see pics of those 8 week old kittens, though!!!

Eeeek! That looks awesome! Yup...definitely want to do the cheetah tour

Yeah, they don't reopen until later either. So either way (between SW and BG), I may not have a choice in waiting

That tour certainly makes us very keen to do more tours when we visit BG. We are considering adding the Rhino Encounter to our October plans......especially as more of our Disney experiences keep getting the axe!!

A certain young lady in my house was sad to hear that there would be no cheetah encounters this summer. I told her we could always go back in 2 years when she turns 18, then she could go on the tour by herself.

I am sorry to hear that your young miss was disappointed :-( ... but 2 years is too long to wait, momma. I think you need to plan a spring 2021 trip, just to sneak in that tour ;-) . YOLO!

Gina- That was amazing!! What a beautiful cheetah! I'm so glad you and Steve had an opportunity to experience this encounter. Kudos to Busch Gardens for all of the safety protocols as well. What an amazing and unique experience!

It was definitely the experience of a lifetime! And we certainly felt the animals were being respected first and foremost, which is SO important to us. We have so much love and appreciation for the SeaWorld parks, and how they treat their animals.
 
Hey all, I am finally taking a few moments to check in. So sorry its been so long (again) since I have posted an entry.

As always, its been pretty busy around here over the last week. The gardens and work always provide me with a steady list of things to do, but we have also enjoyed a little bit of excitement as well.....our son asked his girlfriend to marry him on Friday evening, and she said YES! I've also been working on throwing together a short getaway for next weekend to celebrate Steve's 49th birthday, which has been harder than it sounds when so much is still closed, or partly closed, here in Michigan due to Covid-19. Our original plan was to go home to celebrate his birthday (which was also when the proposal had been rescheduled to), but the extension of the border closure kind of threw a monkey wrench into things. That seems to be the theme of 2020......pretty much nothing has gone as we planned!

We also got the disappointing news this week that all Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Parties have been cancelled for the year, ripping up yet another one of our planned activities for our October trip. I can honestly say I've never planned, planned and re-planned a trip so many times in all of our years of traveling to Orlando!!! Rejigging the itinerary has been no small feat, especially when SeaWorld, Aquatica and Busch Gardens are all each closed on 2 days every week, HHN doesn't run on two days of our booked week, and we have no confirmation yet of whether or not we will be able to secure a reservation for any of the Disney parks [and if we do, what day it will be for]. From what I understand, we *should* be able to make our reservation for Disney one week from today, which at least will provide us with some certainty in that regard and let us plan around it.

I am to the point of being afraid to say, "what next?", because I don't want to know what the answer will be! LOL

At any rate, I will try my best to get a short entry up sometime soon, hopefully before we head out for our mini-getaway early on Friday morning. In the meantime, I hope you all have a wonderful day today celebrating the dads in your lives!
 
I thought about you when I heard the news about the Halloween parties. Seems like every time I turn around, Disney is taking something else away or canceling something. Boo😢

So excited for your good news, though!❤
 


Eeeek, congrats to Jake! That is awesome news

That tour certainly makes us very keen to do more tours when we visit BG. We are considering adding the Rhino Encounter to our October plans......especially as more of our Disney experiences keep getting the axe!!

I honestly think I may be spending a lot of time at the SW parks, especially as I have no idea when I'll be able to visit the WDW parks next (I can only imagine how long CMs will be blocked out). So I might have to book all of the tours
 
I don’t know how I stumbled onto this report but so glad to see it. Your reports are so entertaining and informative. Sorry about your spring trip being cancelled. We have a family Dec WDW trip and a Family Hawaii trip in Feb 2021 but with everything the way it is, we are uncertain if they will happen. Last November I rented a week at the Vistana from a member for $1,000 and our family had a great time. I took my son, grandson and son in law to a Florida Gators football game in Gainesville and spent a week relaxing. It is a beautiful resort in a great location. Thanks again for a great trip report and hope that you. Have gotten back to see your family. Flying is the only way but would be worth it. Stay Well.
 


I was so happy when I saw the news on fb about Jake! Congrats to everyone again. I hope you are able to get a trip home sometime soon.
I am sure you will plan a fabulous trip in Oct. I was able to get two days of park reservations yesterday. I only have two-day passes (from 4 years ago :-) ) in my account so we took what we could get. If we go in Nov, and with the FL case number that's a big if, we will be staying at Universal for the beginning of the trip and then move to WDW property. Once reservations at WDW can be modified, I will be making changes. The only bummer is that we are staying at the WL and it still doesn't have an opening date for the main hotel, the DVC villas just do. I really wanted to stay in the main building in the renovated rooms. We also have CL booked and that is up in the air. Right now, its just a waiting game in this house. I will keep booking things that are refundable and go from there. Next stalking event is rental cars.

But congrats to the fam and happy early birthday to Steve.
Oh be patient on the WDW park reservations, I literally left the pink castle screen up on my computer for a few hours before I got in. If you want I can email you the link that I went into MDE to. It was from the email I got from Disney about the reservation system. If I went into MDE directly, I got calendars that had zero availability. I also did the cookie dump of my Chrome browser before. yada yada. The standard procedures to get a Disney website to work. :sad2:
 
My good Canadian upbringing is making feel obliged to apologize to everyone for that rant. So, to anyone reading along, I'm sorry ... no offense meant or intended. I generally try to avoid long tangents and touchy subjects whenever possible but I seem to be finding myself in the middle of them more often than not these days.

Its reminding me of why i took such a lengthy break from the boards in the first place :crazy2:.

Hi Gina- so glad to have finally “found” your report!!! Really enjoying your stories and all the fantastic pictures. Please don’t apologize- some people like to put in a “Dis” ( pun intended) because they are jealous. I think its wonderful you can fly First Class. My dh and I are so disappointed our trip to Universal this August is a bust. Just cancelled our hotel (RPR) and flight - but this is not the time to travel for us. We are hoping for March 2021.
:flower1:Brenda
 
I thought about you when I heard the news about the Halloween parties. Seems like every time I turn around, Disney is taking something else away or canceling something. Boo😢
So excited for your good news, though!❤

Thank you! And your trip is coming up SUPER soon now! You must be getting kind of excited, especially seeing some of the crowd levels recently. Or have the Covid numbers been erasing any anticipation? I honestly hate to check the news reports these days.

Congratulations on the impending expansion of your family! What wonderful news during crazy times. I hope you get to do exactly as much wedding planning as you are interested in, and can sit back and enjoy the whole process. 🍾👏🏽💍

Thank you! I am fortunate to have a wonderful relationship with Jake's bride-to-be, and she's been awesome so far in getting me involved in as many of the plans as I can be from afar. She's VERY organized, though, so she definitely doesn't need much help. But it's been fun seeing the plans come together....I have no doubt it will be a beautiful wedding!

Eeeek, congrats to Jake! That is awesome news

I honestly think I may be spending a lot of time at the SW parks, especially as I have no idea when I'll be able to visit the WDW parks next (I can only imagine how long CMs will be blocked out). So I might have to book all of the tours

Thank you Joanna! And congrats on getting called back to work.....I know you were eager to get back "home" again. I have loved seeing your CM preview pics on Facebook!

I don’t know how I stumbled onto this report but so glad to see it. Your reports are so entertaining and informative. Sorry about your spring trip being cancelled. We have a family Dec WDW trip and a Family Hawaii trip in Feb 2021 but with everything the way it is, we are uncertain if they will happen. Last November I rented a week at the Vistana from a member for $1,000 and our family had a great time. I took my son, grandson and son in law to a Florida Gators football game in Gainesville and spent a week relaxing. It is a beautiful resort in a great location. Thanks again for a great trip report and hope that you. Have gotten back to see your family. Flying is the only way but would be worth it. Stay Well.

Thank you for joining in! So glad to have you back reading along again.

I am glad you got to enjoy such a wonderful week at my favorite resort. I hope your son and grandson enjoy it there as well. I am so sorry to hear that your 2020 plans are in a state of flux.....its so discouraging to see this virus still spreading at such a crazy rate. At this point, I'm not even staking the farm on our fall and Christmas trips. I'd like to think another 90 days or so will bring some progress, but I thought that 90 days ago from now as well.

Unfortunately we have been unable to get home to see our family as of yet. Whether we drive or fly, we would still face a mandatory 14 day quarantine upon entering Canada (with painfully steep fines for non-compliance). We just can't be away from work, home, and the cats for 3 weeks (2 weeks of quarantine plus a week to see family). And then Steve would face a second 14 day quarantine per his company's current policy upon our return. It's a hot mess. I can't even tell you how upsetting this all is.

YAY!! Congratulations to your son and his fiancee, and to you and Steve as well! That is exciting news!

Happy early Birthday to Steve! 🎂 I hope you guys have a great weekend celebrating his birthday.

Thank you! We had a lovely weekend in Holland, Michigan. Such a quaint little town. Getting away (even for just a few days) is good for the soul.

I was so happy when I saw the news on fb about Jake! Congrats to everyone again. I hope you are able to get a trip home sometime soon.
I am sure you will plan a fabulous trip in Oct. I was able to get two days of park reservations yesterday. I only have two-day passes (from 4 years ago :-) ) in my account so we took what we could get. If we go in Nov, and with the FL case number that's a big if, we will be staying at Universal for the beginning of the trip and then move to WDW property. Once reservations at WDW can be modified, I will be making changes. The only bummer is that we are staying at the WL and it still doesn't have an opening date for the main hotel, the DVC villas just do. I really wanted to stay in the main building in the renovated rooms. We also have CL booked and that is up in the air. Right now, its just a waiting game in this house. I will keep booking things that are refundable and go from there. Next stalking event is rental cars.

But congrats to the fam and happy early birthday to Steve.
Oh be patient on the WDW park reservations, I literally left the pink castle screen up on my computer for a few hours before I got in. If you want I can email you the link that I went into MDE to. It was from the email I got from Disney about the reservation system. If I went into MDE directly, I got calendars that had zero availability. I also did the cookie dump of my Chrome browser before. yada yada. The standard procedures to get a Disney website to work. :sad2:

Thank you!

I was able to make our Disney park reservations with absolutely no problem at all....by the time the process got to our ticket type, I think the initial bugs were worked out and it all went quickly, seamlessly, and (shockingly) easily. I was expecting a hot mess but was pleasantly surprised!

I'm sorry your November trip is still questionable. This year has totally sucked the joy out vacation planning.

Hi Gina- so glad to have finally “found” your report!!! Really enjoying your stories and all the fantastic pictures. Please don’t apologize- some people like to put in a “Dis” ( pun intended) because they are jealous. I think its wonderful you can fly First Class. My dh and I are so disappointed our trip to Universal this August is a bust. Just cancelled our hotel (RPR) and flight - but this is not the time to travel for us. We are hoping for March 2021.
:flower1:Brenda

Aw, Brenda, I am SO sorry your trip had to be cancelled. I understand that disappointment oh-so-well. 2020 has been a heck of a year.....and heaven help us, we're only half way through.

I am thrilled you found this report, though! I have taken a bit of a break from it over the past few weeks, but i'm trying to get my head back in the game and attempting to get posting again. Everyone has been wonderfully patient so I owe them to finish. Hopefully I can get a decent entry up this week. So great to have you along again!!
 
Hey there everyone, I wanted to apologize for the long "pause" that this report has been on. I hate knowing I've left it hanging so long, and I'm still committed to finishing it. Honestly, I've just been in an ongoing funk with not being able to get home to see family.....it's taking it's emotional toll and I just haven't felt inspired to be on the Dis. The effect of the coronavirus can be felt in many ways, i guess. We are so blessed to have been spared the physical effects thus far (thank God) but the emotional toll has been draining.

In other news, our ever changing October trip continues to evolve. We not only were able to make a park reservation with our existing ticket, we were also able to purchase new two day tickets to bring our planned Disney days to 3. We have park reservations for Epcot (Steve really, really wanted to do the Food & Wine festival for the first time, modified or not), Magic Kingdom, and Hollywood Studios. We havent been to HS since 2009 so this will almost be like a first time again.

So, we have 3 Disney days, one day at SeaWorld (with the Killer Whales tour), a day at Busch Gardens (with the Tiger tour and the Rhino Encounter), and 2 nights at HHN (plus whatever time at the Universal parks we want before HHN starts). Its going to be busy, but who needs sleep? LOL

Now, to get those Florida Covid numbers going down so we can actually start to look forward to things again. I'm hoping by the time our ADR days roll around next month that there will be some improvement. It's got to happen sometime, right?
I am aiming to resume trip report posts at some point this week.....heaven knows you all have been patient long enough. I still have so much to share about our January adventures.

Hope you all are staying well!
 
We’ve pretty much decided to bag our October trip. I’m very sad, but it’s best for us. Now I’m going to bring the excitement back with planning for December and Mardi Gras trips. This is an annoying time but we will get to take one of these vacations we keep planning!

I totally understand why it’s been hard to be on the Dis and talk about your previous trip. We are all enjoying it so much, we’ll take whatever you offer! I wish there was a Hugs emoji...

My next task is to figure out when in December Universal events start. I’m hoping to do a combination Universal and maybe Gaylord Palms Ice, and not sure if Disney has cancelled the Christmas parties yet...🎄
 
Thank you Joanna! And congrats on getting called back to work.....I know you were eager to get back "home" again. I have loved seeing your CM preview pics on Facebook!

Thank you! The preview was a lot of fun (I had a lot of fun visiting as a guest), and it is soooo good to be back to work again
 
Got all caught up reading this at night during my trip at Disney! I hope you get to see the family soon.
 
Hello, I am late to the party, but I just found your trip report. And, as always, I have enjoyed reading along!

Here's hoping the Canadian border opens soon because we have tamed the virus.
 

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