Monday, June 25, 2012

And We're Off



Now to the good stuff...vacation!!

We're headed to Orlando for a few days, where we're staying at The Grand Floridian Resort & Spa on Walt Disney World! The plan is to have a day or two to ourselves, and then we have a special surprise in the works. It's John's dad's birthday Tuesday, and he is in Orlando with John's mom and sister. We're going to meet up with the family at Disney World and surprise John's dad, because he has no idea we'll be there. Fingers crossed we pull it off and go 2 for 2 in the surprise party department this summer.

Our hotel for two nights!

While we're at Disney we plan to use a new app that John found for my phone. It's called Disney World Wait Times, Dining and Maps by UnderCoverTourist.com (quite the mouthful!). It's a free app (with ads) that updates to show you the wait time for every ride in all four parks. We're hoping to use it to maximize our time. I'll be sure to let you know how it works out.
After spending two nights and three days at Disney World, the hubby and I will rent a car and drive to Sanibel Island Wednesday night. We made the drive last year, when we took a day excursion to Orlando. 

Not my fittest point. Good thing it's never too late to make a change!

Thursday we'll pick up our good friends Ally and Wes from the airport, and the four of us will enjoy a relaxing 4-night stay at John's grandparents' condo. We are so fortunate that they have a condo that they allow us to use, as well as a car they keep at the condo. We definitely would not be able to take this vacation if it weren't for their generosity. Thanks, Mimi and Papa!

The last time Ally and I were on a vacation together was when we went to Japan for spring break our senior year of college. We were part of a pioneer service-learning course, where we studied International Public relations, specifically those in Asian countries (China, India, Japan). We traveled to Tokyo and surrounding cities to meet with public relations executives, journalists and even the U.S. Ambassador. While this is not even close to being the same kind of trip, I'm so looking forward to making new memories of new travels.

While we're in Sanibel we hope to hit up lots of fun things on the island and possibly Ft. Myers. Ally and I are already planning an outlet mall trip - thanks to babysitting money! - and John and I will attend a dinner theater one evening, courtesy of Mimi and Papa. We even hope to see Swade, who will be in Captiva around the same time visiting a sorority sister of ours.

I'm not sure how much I'll be posting this week, but I'll be sure to have a few posts recapping our trip. If you read this long, and have any suggestions for places to go or things to do during our stay, please let me know. I'd love some fresh ideas! :)

2 comments:

  1. I'd love to know if the Disney app works. As often as we visit Orlando, we've never stayed at the Grand Floridian resort. We went to a wedding there. It's gorgeous. You will be in my neck of the woods! If you've been to Sanibel/Captiva, you've probably been to the Island Cow or the Bubble Room. If you venture off the Island, there's Tanget ourlets with a Loft store! The other outlet is Miromar. Miromar doesn't have any good restaurants, so you may want to hit up a place at Gulf Coast Town Center before or after. It's less than 10 min away. Another option is to go to Coconut Pointe mall in Bonita Springs. It has a bigger variety of shops plus many restaurants. Enjoy your vacay!

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    Replies
    1. Thanks for all the tips!! We're planning to head to the outlet malls tomorrow, so I'm so grateful for all the suggestions, especially about food! :)

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