Highly unlikely with all the "characters" here on this thread!!
YAY you are getting so close!!! Plus, don't be envious of your bosses. The Bo-Bina clan travels at a much nicer weather time of the year! You'd have been miserable in Orlando in the summer!!! I hope the days pass quickly (up until you arrive in Orlando, that is)
Oh, I know that once October rolls around, I will be eternally grateful that my vacation time is just kicking off
(while everyone else has nothing left to look forward to). We have our fingers crossed that Mother Nature smiles on us again this autumn: heavy rain is always our biggest worry (heat we can deal with, but rain is much more of a downer).
I think part of it is that I just feel like such a fish out of water this year. No school supplies to buy, no child to get ready to go back to school, Steve in his new position and being called out of town on a semi-regular basis, and Jake leaving the nest. Couple that with no summer vacation and everything just feels so.....odd!
Have I mentioned lately that I don't handle change very well?
LOL
Thanks for the update Gina, things are moving ever closer on all fronts, vacation, planning, phone and Jake moving out
We are still saving for our Christmas trip (with the downward spiral of the £ I think spending money will be tighter this time), I am on the look out for the Seaworld Christmas extras and still deciding on wether to buy the all day dining for Christmas Eve before we go, or just decide on the day.
My dd just got her GCSE results which were really good (2 A*, 5 A's and 2 B's) and has enrolled today for college. She is already thinking of University and leaving her parents behind for student digs! But that's another 2 years yet, but as you know that will fly by. Otherwise I am just enjoying a week off work before college starts up, so time to catch up on the Dis
A big pat on the back to your DD.....you must be so proud of her! These next two years will be over in the blink of an eye: savour every second (though I know you will
).
I know you're feeling the sting of the exchange rate right along with me and my fellow Canucks, and I feel for you. The only thing that's keeping us from having to cut back significantly on our vacation extras is that we have cut our travelling party from three to two. Hopefully there will be some great deals on the SeaWorld Christmas add-ons once they get released later this fall. Considering they are supposed to be offering those holiday dining and seating packages to pass members at 30% in October, I would suspect that we won't have to wait too much longer to see what they will be: probably only about another 4 weeks. I say, bring it on!
I know what you mean with watching everyone else go on vacation in the summer, but now everyone else has used up their vacations and we both have two coming up!
Yes, it is definitely a cheering thought!
And I know that time will fly by once Labour Day is over. September always feels like the fastest month of the year, with everyone getting back to business after a crazy summer season.
Thanks for the update Gina! I'm not sure if you have both your AP's for Universal purchased yet, but if you don't there is some talk of changes and possibly price increases to some of the passes. There's a post in the Universal forums with more info. It might be worth getting that last pass ahead of the changes.
I'm sorry you are having a hard time with the big changes coming up. I can relate on some levels. DD leaves for school again this Saturday, and though its easier this time than last year, she isn't in dorms anymore, and has an apartment, so who knows if she will come back next summer. It's great to see them thrive, and hard to let them go.
On the vacation front, I book our fastpasses tomorrow! We have that one night onsite after the party so we get the 60 day window. Luckily I asked last night in another thread if booking still opened at midnight like it did when we booked for May 2016. NOPE! It's 7am now. That works better for me. Staying up until midnight every night for a week to fiddle with fastpasses, and then getting up for work was no fun. I like the morning booking much better.
We are currently 60 days from our Universal trip.
Do you think Aquatica tickets might have a deal before we go? I remember they were really cheap (something like $19 pp) for our early December 2015 trip. Probably because the weather is so unpredictable then. It would be nice to see a cheap rate like that for the first week of November. I'm not holding my breath though.
As for the phone I think you are leaving yourself plenty of time to get used to it, and I totally understand not wanting to add one more thing to your plate right now.
We've had a pretty free summer and were just talking about what things start to look like in the Fall and ...
is all I can say. We literally don't have one week night where one of us doesn't have a sport, coaching, a committee , a council, a practice, and DH is teaching at the college on top of his full time job. Then there is school projects and regular homework and weekend tournaments. I love our life and we make it all work but this Fall/Winter is going to be hairy and THAT is why I love our vacations and family time so much. I'll be just like you and soooooo ready for this trip when it comes.
Unfortunately, I couldn't pick up our second annual pass when I wanted to (though it wasn't for lack of trying
). A wonderful soul bestowed us with the bulk of the purchase price of the remaining pass by way of Universal gift cards, however I couldn't figure out how to make the purchase online using the gift cards as payment. I emailed Guest Services, who said I couldn't use the GC's online and said I'd have to purchase the other pass at the park. So, I called (thinking I could do so by phone.....this is 2016, after all) but got the same result: when using gift cards for the purchase, the pass HAD to be made at the park. I was quite shocked, actually: for such a progressive company, I found this rather surprising. In the meantime, cue the announcement and now the price increase
.
However, looking on the bright side: one pass was already bought at the lesser price, saving us $40 + tax over the new cost structure. And both passes will allow us early entry privileges under the change, so we're SUPER excited about that.
It was pretty maddening, though, that I just couldn't have had it all done by now.....I desperately wanted to get that off my list of to-do's (and the price hike was just an extra kick in the bottom). Sigh.
Wahoo, sometimes nothing to do is a good thing.
Still tweeking my Mickey trip, as they keep adjusting the calendar.
And oh I forgot about the October pass holder deals for SW. Will need to remind myself as it gets closer.
Should get my magic band any day now, as almost 30 days until I will be in the World.
Wow, this summer has flown.
Stick with me, sister, and I'll keep you reminded about those pass member offers in October
. I won't let you down!
And only 30 days to go? (well, 29 now!
) I'll dance to that
.
No, the Tequila coats your stomach. It's a protective barrier. Very similar in effect to pepto bismol. It's the salt and the limes that present the problems and I would never have those
I drank one mouthful of Tequila last winter (friends of ours brought us back a gift set of 5 different bottles, from dark in colour to clear) and I swear I'm scarred for life. I know I'm a lightweight where alcohol is concerned but OMG, that stuff curled my hair
.
Thanks for the reminder about the feeding trays. I saw that the other day and was thinking about ordering. I need to do that.
AND guess what they put up on the website today?! Yep the bring a friend for free. I was able to get the 4 tickets we need for that and then the 2 additional for 50% off. We were going to be able to get my parents in twice for free but then my sister and her husband decided to come so they are using 2 of the free tickets.
I just need to print off the coupon for Gatorland and we'll be all set. 4 more days.
ETA: I just bought the food tray. It is $9.99 including tax. Checked out the price for QQ and it's only $17 for the time we're there. Still not sure we'll need it though. Also the dolphin encounter is only $13.50!
Awesome!! Does this mean you're going to add on the dolphin encounter to your Seaworld day? (might be a good consolation for skipping Discovery Cove!)
I would hold off on Quick Queue until you get to the park: if you are going on a weekday, I'd hedge a bet to say it might not be needed at all. We certainly didn't need it on our days in April and May. The only reason we added it on for October is because we are there on a Spooktacular day and we suspect crowds might be pretty substantial on a weekend that close to Halloween.
As a west coaster I don't like the new time. The only positive about it is our fp day is Monday, which means I'm off work that day so I can go back to sleep once I'm done. If it had been a regular work day I probably would have had our
travel agent do them like I did the ADR's but that would be more stressful considering we are hopping and will want x but if we can't get that then y or z or q will work. And I read the rumor today that rock n roller coaster will be down for refurb Oct 27 (I think) until Nov 9. We had planned on riding it both of our days there, Nov 9 and 10, but I'll be happy that at least it should be back up because I know some people are missing it completely. Sad to miss big thunder railroad though since it's not back from refurb until the week after we leave.
My one goal for Universal over the two days we are there is to ride Rip Ride Rocket because both times we were in line last time it went down.
I am totally gutted that Big Thunder is under refurb for our
MNSSHP days
. It's one of my favourites and a ride that Steve and I love doing together. I am so glad we'll get another opportunity to ride it on our December trip: that makes the October disappointment a little easier to bear.
Fingers crossed that you get to ride Rip Ride Rocket as you hope to! I'm guessing Steve won't fit again this December
but hey, you never know. Christmas is a season of miracles
.
I didn't know you could pre-purchase stingray food with the AP discount! I will have to look into doing that for our trip. We will likely get QQ for our Sea World morning as we both love the coasters. The dolphin encounter should be fun, but watch your electronics! I assume you saw that video of the dolphin playfully stealing the woman's iPad.
I think there is a chance you'll get 7DMT! I got FPs for it for our September trip 30-days out!
Yes ma'am, you can buy the trays online on the pass member website. Definitely a good savings versus the per-tray price at the park
. I'm not sure if I should buy one, 3-tray voucher or two? (so we can feed them on both days we plan to visit
....oh, the agonizing decisions I'm left with at this point in the planning
)
LOL, I will definitely be keeping my phone and camera safely away from the water's edge!! The SeaWorld animal care staff warn people about that a million times a session.....this may sound mean, but seriously....if a person is still silly enough to ignore their instructions after being told THAT many times, they deserve to have their ipad go for a swim. We have the annual Photokey, so we should be able to get our interaction photos from the park photographers anyway, which makes the session even better. We can focus fully on the experience while someone else handles picture duties!
I am so cheered to hear that you secured 7DMT FPs at the 30 day mark! I'm guessing I might not be so fortunate considering my day is a MNSSHP date, but hey.....I'll hold out hope anyway. Positive thoughts, right?
I was pretty proud of myself, though: I was determined not to cry in front of him, and managed to hold it all in until I was on my way home in the car. He gave me the biggest, longest hug before I left and it was all I could do to keep myself together. I'm going to miss that kid, even though he's not too far away. 
.
