Upcoming Trip To Orlando, Florida!

Discussion in 'Travel & Vacation' started by Yvonne Smith, Mar 16, 2018.

  1. Yvonne Smith

    Yvonne Smith Senior Staff
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    I am excited this morning !
    My daughter, Robin, called me early this morning and asked me if I would like to accompany her to Orlando about the first week in April. She has to go to different places for her work, and Orlando is close enough for us to drive; so it really doesn’t cost extra for her to take me along.
    I think that I mentioned in an earlier thread that she just ordered a brand new blue MiniCooper, and it arrived a day or so before we took the trip to Seattle; so we will be driving down there in the Mini and it will be the first real road trip in it.
    We will leave on the weekend before she has to be there for work, spend the weekend driving down the Gulf Coast, spend the week there, and then drive back home the next weekend. She said that there should be some extra time to sightsee round Orlando, and also make a quick trip to Disney World; and I am really looking forward to doing ll of that, as well as seeing the Gulf Coast and maybe wiggling our toes in the ocean.

    Here is a picture of her new MiniCooper Countryman that we will be taking for the trip. This car is like an amazing computer on wheels, with all of the things that it can do.
    C1505402-2F0D-4C93-ACD0-2738C83CF1FA.jpeg
     
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  2. Don Alaska

    Don Alaska Supreme Member
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    Good luck on your trip. I used to spend time in Orlando on occasion, and enjoyed it a lot. I never understood how the "Yankees" could stand in line at Disney World in July, however.
     
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  3. Babs Hunt

    Babs Hunt Supreme Member
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    How nice that you are getting to do some traveling and spend time with Family @Yvonne Smith. I hope y'all have a wonderful time and make lots of memories to cherish. :)

    Very nice car too. :)
     
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    Last edited: Mar 16, 2018
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  4. Shirley Martin

    Shirley Martin Supreme Member
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    Oh, my, @Yvonne Smith , you are becoming quite the Gadabout. :D A few days ago, in the Northwest and soon the Southeast. Have fun!
     
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  5. Ken Anderson

    Ken Anderson Senior Staff
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    Enjoy your trip in the beautiful car.
     
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  6. Yvonne Smith

    Yvonne Smith Senior Staff
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    It is after midnight here, and we just got checked in at the hotel, headed for bed next. It has been a long day, but an enjoyable one. We stopped at St. Augustine, Florida, and I will have pictures to post in the morning. Too tired tonight, but wanted to let everyone know that we are here, safe and sound.
     
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  7. Bobby Cole

    Bobby Cole Supreme Member
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    Hmmmmph...........technology. I just thought of something. If I go on-line and message Yvonne just to say "good morning and I love you", her watch will buzz her and will wake her up which is one thing I do not wish to do as I surveil the circumstances. She went to bed late so I had best wait to hit the email or message thingy.
    Anyway, it's nice she and Robin got there safely and maybe today they can go see Mickey Mouse or do like the gal in the tongue twister and pick up sea shells at the sea shore. But, she's not on a sea but rather an ocean which changes things a bit but who the heck cares.
    Hopefully, they both wear some sun screen because I know Yvonne hasn't seen much sun in the past few months.

    Anyway, glad she's safe and having a good rest at the hotel....................
     
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  8. Yvonne Smith

    Yvonne Smith Senior Staff
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    Just woke up, and Robin is still sleeping.
    I have to resize my pictures before I can post them here; so as I get that done, I will post some pictures.
    We are staying at Embassy Suites, and the hotel room is actually almost like a little apartment. It has a front room with table/desk couch, and a fridge, sink and microwave, and then a large bedroom in the back.
    I don’t watch television; but I think that there are two of them, one out here and one in the bedroom. Today ,we can check out the swimming pool and hot tub, that is the part I am looking forward to doing !

    I thought we would just go down through Alabama and into Florida; but that is not how we went at all.
    We drove across Alabama into Georgia and as far as just outside Atlanta the first night, then came the rest of the way downthrough Georgia and into Florida near Jacksonvillle yesterday.
    We crossed a huge bridge as we came into Florida, and maybe @Cody Fousnaugh knows what the bridge is called ? Anyway, I was mentally “waving” at you as we went through Jacksonvillle, Cody.

    We barely made it to St. Augustine before it got dark; but we were in time for Robin to show me the old fort that was built in the early 1600’s. It is really awesome, and the walls are made of tiny seashells that accumulated and solidified in the ocaean there over thousands of years.
    Somehow the soldiers managed to chop the seashell accumulations into blocks and that is what the walls of the fort are made from.
    We were too late to actually see inside; but we walked around the outside, and were in what was the original castle moat.
    I took pictures of the seashell wall and will post one later; but here is the web page that tells the story about the castle.

    https://www.nps.gov/casa/learn/historyculture/coquina-the-rock-that-saved-st-augustine.htm
     
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    Last edited: Apr 1, 2018
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  9. Cody Fousnaugh

    Cody Fousnaugh Supreme Member
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    I could never fit in one of those cars! Nope, no way. Too tall.

    Orlando is nice, but can get extremely crowded. Have fun.
     
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  10. Chrissy Cross

    Chrissy Cross Supreme Member
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    Looks like you're having a great time @Yvonne Smith ....happy for you!!
     
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  11. Yvonne Smith

    Yvonne Smith Senior Staff
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    Yesterday, we went to Disney World Animal Kingdom, and it was spectacular , and we didn’t even see the whole thing yet. I walked over five miles yesterday, plus swam for an hour in the hotel pool; so I am still totally exhausted today.
    I have some great pictures to share and stories to tell; but we have been so busy that I am doing good to post pictures on Facebook, and I have to resize them before I can post anything on the forum. It will probably be next week by the time I go through everything and post pictures.

    One thing that we learned is that you can get a little bracelet , called a fast-pass, and the Disney app, and with this, you can pre-sign up for any attractions and then you do not have to stand in line. You can do this weeks (maybe months ?) in advance; so it is a very good feature. The little bracelets are reloadable, too, and you just scan them when you want to go into an attraction that you have booked a time for.
    It works at all of the Disney theme parks.
    I think that @Shirley Martin mentioned going to the Epcot Center, and this bracelet would work there as well, and you can plan ahead what you want to see and what times, and then you just scan yourself in and only have a short line to wait each time.

    Last night, we saw the Rivers of Light show, and it was beautiful ! It is kind of a laser show that is projected on sprays of water, and the animals projected across the sky look so very realistic.
    We also went through Pandora, but were too late for all of the events there; so we have to sign up ahead before we go there again.

    E1AD4A18-95B5-4BA6-ADB9-2508AD286FF9.jpeg
     
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  12. Cody Fousnaugh

    Cody Fousnaugh Supreme Member
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    When we went to Disney's Hollywood Studios park, we had the bracelets and they worked great. Thing about it was, we really should have rented a wheelchair, so we could take turns riding in it. WAY to much walking around for us. We were totally exhausted when we got back to our motel room.
     
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  13. Chrissy Cross

    Chrissy Cross Supreme Member
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    We used the fast pass in Disney also....but my daughter just ran and got them there when we knew what ride we wanted it for but this was 7 yrs ago and in Disneyland.

    When I went to Disneyworld with my baby sister and her kids and my mom, I don't remember what we did.

    My favorite ride was "Soaring" in Disneyland and went on that a few times...can't remember if they have that at Disneyworld.
     
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  14. Yvonne Smith

    Yvonne Smith Senior Staff
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    Here is a short video of the River of Lights that just gives you an idea of what it was like. The whole show lasted almost a half hour, and there are full videos of that on Youtube also.

     
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  15. Cody Fousnaugh

    Cody Fousnaugh Supreme Member
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    Hey, your back! So, how was your "coastal" Easter trip? Haven't seen Holly on here for awhile.
     
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