avic77
Fish out of water
- Joined
- Aug 14, 2007
Hello all
I thought i would make a pre trip report to channel some of my excitement about our up coming vacation to Universal and Islands of Adventure. Last year my husband myself and the 3 kids went on our first family vacation ever to WDW! It was a wonderful trip and we really broke the bank going all out with staying onsite, dining etc. That 7 days in Disney ran us about 5k .
This year after I started getting all these special offers I started hinting that we should go again. My wonderful Dh gently told me that right now with the economy in the condition its in along with the uncertainty surrounding his occupation he could not see spending 3k (the amount a WDW special would have cost) on a vacation . However he understood that haveing a family vacation is important and good for all of us so he would let me have $1200 from the income tax return for vacation .
I immediatly set to work looking for a fun family getaway . I wanted to actually GO somewhere not the typical day trips we had been doing for years the local touristy places. In my researching i discovered that we could get Universal tickets for 1/2 the price of WDW tickets and there are always deals on hotels in orlando . So i narrowed our options down to 2 places both about 8 hours drive : Gatlinburg Tn with 6 nights in a cabin with white water rafting, horseback riding, a cavern tour, gem mining, and a few local attractions ( no Dollywood) or 6 nights in a 2 bedroom condo in Orlando with the unlimited 7 days 2 parks Universal and Islands of Adventure tickets.
A family meeting was called and I went over the options. The kids voted and it was settled: We are going to Universal
Next up the cast & crew and the budget
Trip Report Updates:
Part 1: Getting there is half the fun
Part 2: Dinner and Dinos Page 4, post 55 and 56 LOTS of pictures.
1st Day in the Parks: Universal Studios Page 5 post 71 More pictures
I thought i would make a pre trip report to channel some of my excitement about our up coming vacation to Universal and Islands of Adventure. Last year my husband myself and the 3 kids went on our first family vacation ever to WDW! It was a wonderful trip and we really broke the bank going all out with staying onsite, dining etc. That 7 days in Disney ran us about 5k .
This year after I started getting all these special offers I started hinting that we should go again. My wonderful Dh gently told me that right now with the economy in the condition its in along with the uncertainty surrounding his occupation he could not see spending 3k (the amount a WDW special would have cost) on a vacation . However he understood that haveing a family vacation is important and good for all of us so he would let me have $1200 from the income tax return for vacation .
I immediatly set to work looking for a fun family getaway . I wanted to actually GO somewhere not the typical day trips we had been doing for years the local touristy places. In my researching i discovered that we could get Universal tickets for 1/2 the price of WDW tickets and there are always deals on hotels in orlando . So i narrowed our options down to 2 places both about 8 hours drive : Gatlinburg Tn with 6 nights in a cabin with white water rafting, horseback riding, a cavern tour, gem mining, and a few local attractions ( no Dollywood) or 6 nights in a 2 bedroom condo in Orlando with the unlimited 7 days 2 parks Universal and Islands of Adventure tickets.
A family meeting was called and I went over the options. The kids voted and it was settled: We are going to Universal
Next up the cast & crew and the budget
Trip Report Updates:
Part 1: Getting there is half the fun
Part 2: Dinner and Dinos Page 4, post 55 and 56 LOTS of pictures.
1st Day in the Parks: Universal Studios Page 5 post 71 More pictures