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

Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina

Life is short. Live it well.
Joined
Sep 12, 2008
Hello everyone! :wave2: It's been a long time! A l-o-n-g time!

For those veterans who might be reading along, you'll know its been an extended period since I embarked on a trip report.....they used to be one of my favorite leisure time activities. Sadly, the last one I attempted to complete didn't even get completely finished: we lost a family member to suicide and I never did get back to wrap it up once life got back to normal. But, in my defense, it took a long time for life to re-balance after that. Maybe it still hasn't completely? But, I digress....

Fast forward one year, and here we are in quarantine because a global pandemic is wreaking havoc with our scheduled, organized, predictable lives. The business I work for closed voluntarily almost two weeks ago, even before our state's governor ordered the closure of all non-essential services. The first week it was easy to keep busy with all the tasks that had made their way onto my always-lengthy to-do list. Now I'm starting to get stir crazy as my list has been depleted and there's nary a closet remaining to be cleaned nor a surface to be dusted. I'm as caught up on yard work as Mother Nature has allowed (we are northerners, remember, so while the calendar says its spring, our actual weather often has different ideas) and I'm desperately seeking something to occupy my brain while we ride out the social distancing that will ground us for at least the next month.....and possibly beyond.

So, I came up with the idea......a return to the Dis! :idea:

Hmmm.....can I remember how to do this? :scratchin (Please bear with me as I get myself back in the swing of things again)

For the new folks that might be reading along, let me provide a brief introduction. This trip features me (Gina) and my husband Steve. I'd like to give a fancy description of us, but the fact of the matter is.....we're just a pair of grown-up kids.

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I am the executive assistant at Michigan's largest craft and antique mall. Steve is an Operations Manager for a global auto parts manufacturer. We are Canadian-born and raised, moving to the Mitten 3 years ago when Steve's employer opened a new facility in metro Detroit. We have one grown son who remains in Canada and works with special needs adults. We also have two beautiful cats, Violet and Dash, whom we love as much (maybe more?) than we love some people :bitelip:. You'll probably get a few pics of them in the midst of my ramblings. Cat lovers, rejoice! Dog lovers, well......I'm sorry :rotfl:.

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This was trip #19 for us (the first being in January 2009, when our love of Orlando was born) so we are no strangers to the City Beautiful. On each visit, we have stuck to our mandate of doing at least one new thing....which has grown harder as the number of trips has grown substantially, but still isn't impossible. It might be a new attraction, a new restaurant, or a new tour.....but every single vacation has featured something we've never done on a previous trip. This most recent adventure was no exception.

This vacation was an "extra". Once we became empty nesters, we settled into a comfortable routine of traveling in the spring (around the beginning of May for our anniversary) and in October (for the Halloween events). Devoted offsiters, we always stay at our home property, Sheraton Vistana Resort, where we own two float weeks [each in a 2 bedroom, 2 bath villa]. Following our trip in October 2019, I stumbled upon a getaway week with Interval International for the end of January at SVR for the all-in price of $336.80.....and we felt obliged not to take advantage of such a crazy low offer. For reference, that's about 1/3 of what we pay in maintenance fees for each of our two ownership weeks......and it translated to a nightly rate of $48.11.

Our arm are made of rubber, so it was easy to twist them. We knew we had some Skymiles banked that would reduce our flight costs, plus we had our Universal annual passes that were still active, so that vacation math kept making more and more sense (cents?). We also hadn't been able to go home for Christmas (due to some processing delays with US Customs & Immigration) which was horribly disappointing, so we felt like we deserved this Florida escape in the middle of the winter's harshest grip. If we couldn't see our families, we could at least still spend time with palm trees.

It seemed completely logical at the time. You'll have to trust me on that!! :p

This was initially supposed to be our "economical" trip. Crazy cheap accommodations, reasonable flight prices, "free" admission to the Universal parks with our AP's.....but as it usually does, the planning took on a life of its own and the trip grew bigger as the countdown grew shorter. SeaWorld annual passes were purchased, a few add-on activities were sourced through Groupon, and we ended up with a rather epic winter getaway.

I felt guilty at the time, but now? We just cancelled our planned trip for next month due to the Coronavirus theme park closures, and now our end-of-May rebooking seems unlikely as well. I'm glad, in hindsight, that we made the most of January because the countdown to our fall trip sits at a painful 199 days.

I hope a few of you will join me as I recount our memories from our winter adventures. Pour yourself a "quarantini" :drinking1, find a comfy chair, read along and PLEASE join in the chatter [if we're all going to be locked down, we might better keep each other company!]. Your comments, input, suggestions, critiques and overall fun conversation is what makes these things so fun to do. Don't be shy, we're all friends here!

Coming up: a 6 am flight seemed like a good idea :rolleyes2.
 
Yahoo! I'm 100 percent on board for a trip report with the Bo-Binas! Bring on the palm trees😎🌴🌴
 
Yay! Subbing in for the fun.

You know, I don't think I knew you had TWO weeks at SVR. Now it makes more sense how you manage to get "home" so often.

And you know that NO ONE on the DIS ever has to rationalize a visit to the mouse, right? It is ALWAYS the right thing to do.

BTW - a quick update that A+ and I did manage to get our March break visit in to Hilton Head, squeaking across the border as things were all shutting down. We are now 9 days into our 14 day self-isolation, but we aren't as ambitious as you - although the house is probably half-way cleaned. No rush, why do today what you can look forward to tomorrow?
 


I’m here! We are currently booked for the beginning of Nov. we had the dates set before all this closure business.
 


I’m first!!

So glad to have you along!! Hope you are keeping safe and well. I am seeing crazy photos coming out of the GTA these days!!

Yahoo! I'm 100 percent on board for a trip report with the Bo-Binas! Bring on the palm trees😎🌴🌴

Ah, the palm trees :cloud9: . They are what I envision when I need a mental escape. These days, that's pretty often LOL.

So glad to have you along! You had a May/June trip planned as well, did you not? Are you still (tentatively, obviously) planning for that?

Yay! Subbing in for the fun.

You know, I don't think I knew you had TWO weeks at SVR. Now it makes more sense how you manage to get "home" so often.

And you know that NO ONE on the DIS ever has to rationalize a visit to the mouse, right? It is ALWAYS the right thing to do.

BTW - a quick update that A+ and I did manage to get our March break visit in to Hilton Head, squeaking across the border as things were all shutting down. We are now 9 days into our 14 day self-isolation, but we aren't as ambitious as you - although the house is probably half-way cleaned. No rush, why do today what you can look forward to tomorrow?:cloud9:

Yes sir, we have two weeks at SVR. We initially set out to purchase one via resale, but the sellers had two weeks so we decided to buy both (especially since they "cost" us nothing). Someday we will likely pass one along to Jake and his girlfriend (probably wife by then!) but for now, we enjoy our twice a year escape.

I did feel an incredible amount of guilt initially when booking this January trip. Not only did it feel excessive to have THREE weeks (hopefully) this year in Orlando, but I wasn't working at the time either. The Customs delays resulted in my work permit lapsing, so I ended up with a 2 month employment hiatus.....so I certainly wasn't overworked to the point of needing an extra vacation. So I rationalized it that I was going for Steve's sake!! LOL

Your Hilton Head getaway looked AMAZING!! The resort looked much like SVR, I assume it was a Sheraton also? It appeared from your FB pics that the weather was stellar. I'm so glad you had a chance to squeeze in your trip before things went to hell in a hand cart. At the rate things are going, who knows when your next chance will be?

yay for TR!!!

Welcome, my friend! Thanks for joining in!

I’m here! We are currently booked for the beginning of Nov. we had the dates set before all this closure business.

So glad to have you along!! Surely by November life will have returned to some semblance of normal !!!

We set our October dates today (the 16th to 23rd). If our May trip doesn't go off as planned, we will hopefully squeeze in our second SVR week in early December. I almost cried, though, when I saw the "199 days until your trip" countdown on the Delta app. Seems sooooooo far away.

Yea, the Bo binas are back :flower1:

Glad to have you reading along!!! Thanks for joining in!
 
Friday, January 24th

When we booked this trip, the initial focus was on value. We wanted to get a good bang for our buck, and the best deals possible (especially when we were down my income, which for all intents and purposes is used for travel & fun). Of course, there are a few things that my trusty co-traveler prefers NOT to scrimp on...and one of those things is flights. I suppose if I were 6' 4" tall and 300 pounds, I'd probably have his same air travel requests....comfort on board is much harder for him to achieve than it is for short and stumpy me. At any rate, he nixed the super cheap Frontier flights (and quiet honestly, so did I.....they can be unreliable at the best of times, and in the winter, we ran the risk of being stranded on one end of our trip or the other if things went awry) and insisted on Delta first class. The only sensibly priced (and I use that term loosely) first class flight out that day was at 6 am, but we thought.....it won't be so bad.

Until the alarm went off at 2 am. Aye yi yi. :rolleyes2

Now, to be fair, we planned things out as best we could......but oh, what an early start it was to the day. Since I wasn't working, I had everything packed and ready before we hit the sack early at 8 pm (thank goodness its nice and dark at that time of day in the middle of January, at least it FELT like it was bedtime). I took some Gravol since it makes me sleepy, so I managed a fairly solid 5 hours of sleep before Alexa announced it was time to get moving. I don't go anywhere without a shower and drying my hair, so once the alarm sounded I had no time to waste before our airport driver arrived at 3:30 am [we had asked him to be there at 3:45, but bless his heart, Olu is ALWAYS early]. Having a driver handle our airport transportation is another of Steve's few splurges, and it was especially appreciated on the cold winter morning: hopping into a warm vehicle and being whisked to the doors of the terminal without having to worry about road conditions, traffic [though certainly not at 3:30 am!! LOL] or even being fully awake was a nice way to kick things off.

We did learn that Olu is very much a morning person. He wasn't bothered by the early start AT ALL, and chatted up a storm all the way to the airport. He always jokes that he wishes we didn't live to so close to the terminal because he enjoys the conversation so much. He is always an entertaining fellow with whom to start and end our trip. And you know what, he's become a rather special friend of ours.....so much so, he always sends us off with a warm hug for me and a handshake for Steve. Pretty sure he'd like to hug Steve-o too, but he's afraid he might get squished (he loves to tease Steve about his brute size!).

We live pretty close to the Detroit-Wayne International Airport, so we were at the terminal around 3:45. Turns out that the Delta counters don't open until 4:15, so we ended up standing around yawning for a half hour before we could check our bags. By the time they opened the counters up, a sizable line had formed of sleepy travelers with their luggage.....but we were fortunate to be standing with another Canadian family so we enjoyed sharing stories about home (with a whole lotta "eh's!" thrown in in all the right places). Delta had lots of agents on, though, so the luggage process went quicker than what it initially appeared it might. As a happy bonus, the ridiculously early hour meant that TSA was pretty much empty so once bags were dropped, we were through security in under 5 minutes. While the freakishly early start did have its challenges, we couldn't help but admit that the 6 am flight also had its benefits. At that point, however, the jury was still out on whether we'd attempt a similar flight schedule in the future.

We headed to our gate to wait for boarding. Check out the the time!

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The airport was eerily empty, and the cleaning crews seemed to equal the number of bleary-eyed travelers. There were very few early flights to anywhere at that hour, it seemed.

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On a positive note, our plane was parked at the airport overnight so it was sitting and waiting on the tarmac that morning, another factor of why we chose that first non-stop of the day to Orlando. It was unlikely we would be delayed (unless due to weather), and as we hoped......we were not. We did send up a sincere prayer of thanks for the great travel weather.....living in the north, its always a gamble to book winter flights.

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Since things had gone smoother than we expected (and we avoided the dreaded Home Alone moment of "WE OVERSLEPT!"......thank you Alexa!!), we were in good spirits as we waited for boarding.

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The gate crew were excellent and boarding was both on-schedule and reasonably efficient, though we always marvel at the number of times they have to announce for people to stow their bag and get out of the darn aisle. I mean really, people. Common sense!!

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The in-flight crew came around to offer pre-flight beverages, and Steve threw all caution to the wind and ordered himself a Jack and Coke. I gave him the side eye and said "um darling, you haven't even had breakfast yet" and he grinned at me and replied "anything goes on vacation, sweetheart". He's not really wrong. But for the record, *I* opted for OJ.

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Once we were airborne, the flight attendants quickly set to bringing out our breakfast selections. We have flown Delta first class several times now, but this is the first breakfast meal we've been on board for. Honestly, it was WAY better than I expected.

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You get to make your advance selections from two different entrees, so our picks had been made online the week before. Never sure exactly how the meals will be, we generally each go with a different choice so we can make trades where necessary. I'm a very picky eater and Steve is restricted somewhat by his diabetes, but we can generally mix and match from each other's trays and both end up getting enough to tide us over. I chose the cereal meal above (the Corn Chex were just "meh" but full disclosure: I'm a Shreddies and Mini Wheats girl) while Steve had the breakfast burrito.

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He loved the burrito enough that he actually wished there was more than one. The fruit was EXCELLENT and I got to have all of his pineapple (a no-no for diabetics but a favorite of mine!). I despise yogurt so I happily handed off my Chobani. The coffee was hot and strong, and I appreciated the jolt of caffeine.

And enjoying our morning meal with this view? Priceless.

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If I had any regret about getting up in the middle of the night for this flight, at that moment, all doubts were erased. At least temporarily.

After breakfast, we coasted through the balance of the flight by watching TV (we love Delta's onboard entertainment, their TV screens are huge!) and before we knew it, we were on the ground.

9 am and we were in Orlando!! That was worth getting up at 2 am for, right?

Right? :scratchin (yes, of course it was!!!)

Next up: heading to our Happy Place :goodvibes
 
Squee! I am so happy you are doing a TR, can’t wait to come along on your awesome adventure! 🥰

You were off to a terrific start, and you look fairly happy for people who got up in the middle of the night. Arriving at 9am is a bonus indeed!
 
Hey Gina! It was so awesome to come across your trip report! I look forward to following along.

I hope you and Steve are doing well!
 
Good morning sunshine! As always, I adore reading your trip reports. I'm sorry that your spring trip had to be postponed and most likely cancelled. At least you have your fall trip to look forward to. I cannot wait to revisit all the fun you had earlier this year!

HUGS!
 
I've never flown Delta before (I always go with JetBlue), but I could see me flying with them if needbe
 
Hey Gina!! I'm happy to finally be back for a Bo-Bina trip report!! I've been off of the Dis for a while too (I'm sure you've seen why :lovestruc) so its wonderful to jump right back in here with you. I believe I said it on FB, but again, my condolences on your family's loss.

While the freakishly early start did have its challenges, we couldn't help but admit that the 6 am flight also had its benefits. At that point, however, the jury was still out on whether we'd attempt a similar flight schedule in the future.
We always take the first early morning direct flight down to Orlando. Its wonderful to get to MCO and have it still be around breakfast time! You get a full day of enjoyment on arrival day.

The in-flight crew came around to offer pre-flight beverages, and Steve threw all caution to the wind and ordered himself a Jack and Coke. I gave him the side eye and said "um darling, you haven't even had breakfast yet" and he grinned at me and replied "anything goes on vacation, sweetheart". He's not really wrong. But for the record, *I* opted for OJ.
Its always 5 o'clock while on vacation ;)

9 am and we were in Orlando!! That was worth getting up at 2 am for, right?
Definitely!
 
Hi I was so glad to see you post a trip report!!! I have been wondering how you and Steve were. Thank you again for the Vistana recommendation, my family loved it and can't wait to try it again. I am looking forward to following along.

Long story short we were suppose to be moving to Orlando this summer. Brian was in the last interview for a big job with Universal, however the pandemic has put a hold on everything, so not sure when we can move. I put a reservation at Portofino for September for a week just in case we can't move before then. This will be our first time at HHN. The boys will like it, Liv and I will do other stuff at night!

I am glad to see you and you guys look great!!
 
Squee! I am so happy you are doing a TR, can’t wait to come along on your awesome adventure! 🥰

You were off to a terrific start, and you look fairly happy for people who got up in the middle of the night. Arriving at 9am is a bonus indeed!

Welcome aboard! So glad to have you joining in!

For two adults, that crazy early flight is absolutely doable. For families with little ones, I would think it would be quite a challenge to get kids up and dressed and to the airport in time. That said, we saw TONS of families on our flight, so even with wee ones it CAN be done. Landing by 9 into the sunshine and warmth sure was a great way to start our day!

Hey Gina! It was so awesome to come across your trip report! I look forward to following along.

I hope you and Steve are doing well!

Hooray! I was hoping you'd stumble onto my report. Glad to have you joining in again!

All is well here, hope you and your kids are none the worse for wear despite the current state of affairs. These sure are trying times these days!!

Good morning sunshine! As always, I adore reading your trip reports. I'm sorry that your spring trip had to be postponed and most likely cancelled. At least you have your fall trip to look forward to. I cannot wait to revisit all the fun you had earlier this year!

HUGS!

Ah, sweet Ruthie <3. I am so glad you're here. No one makes me laugh with their quick wit quite like you do. You're like a breath fresh air! And Lord knows I surely need a laugh or two these days.

Yes, we are SO grateful to have our October plans already in place. Even though its far away, having dates and flights mean we can at least work toward something concrete. In the meantime, I'm still holding out a wee shred of hope that our late May trip might still materialize....I'm saying a prayer that the SeaWorld parks will want to reopen for Memorial Day weekend. Fingers and toes all crossed. I'm realistic, of course.....it's quite likely that they'll stay closed through the end of that month and perhaps even beyond.....but what can I say, I'm the eternal optimist ;-) . It's part of my charm! (or proof of my insanity, take your pick LOL)

I'm here! Bring on the adventures and sunshine!
:sunny:

Aw, my Michigan buddy! <3 Glad to have you reading along!

[PS: as soon as this Covid-19 mess is over, we are planning another Sunday Funday adventure with the fellows}

Ahhh! I'm so happy to see you (and Steve, in a way) are back!

Thank you! Glad to have you joining in!

I've never flown Delta before (I always go with JetBlue), but I could see me flying with them if needbe

Jetblue was our go-to airline when we lived in Canada, as they offered nonstops to MCO out of both Buffalo and Syracuse.....we loved flying JB! Unfortunately for us, they don't fly nonstop from Detroit nor Flint, so that left us with Frontier or Delta. I have to say, Delta has very much impressed us. There's tons of flight options (Detroit is one of their hubs, and they have their own terminal here), their crew have provided us with superb in-flight experiences, and in times of less than ideal circumstances (like lengthy mechanical delays), they have stepped up and provided some pretty awesome customer care. So far, there's very little I can fault them on.

Hey Gina!! I'm happy to finally be back for a Bo-Bina trip report!! I've been off of the Dis for a while too (I'm sure you've seen why :lovestruc) so its wonderful to jump right back in here with you. I believe I said it on FB, but again, my condolences on your family's loss.

We always take the first early morning direct flight down to Orlando. Its wonderful to get to MCO and have it still be around breakfast time! You get a full day of enjoyment on arrival day.

Its always 5 o'clock while on vacation ;)

Definitely!

I am so glad you're here! I wasn't sure if your wee miss allowed for momma to have much time on the computer these days (OMG, she's growing so fast!!), so its extra great to have you along. Hope you are staying safe and well......are you off work during the self quarantine?

Did I read somewhere that you guys are planning to head to Orlando in the fall? Will this trip be with the babe or adults-only? Any chance your dates might overlap with ours?

One reason why I moved to FL!

You're making me jealous, Joanna!!! ;-)

Hi I was so glad to see you post a trip report!!! I have been wondering how you and Steve were. Thank you again for the Vistana recommendation, my family loved it and can't wait to try it again. I am looking forward to following along.

Long story short we were suppose to be moving to Orlando this summer. Brian was in the last interview for a big job with Universal, however the pandemic has put a hold on everything, so not sure when we can move. I put a reservation at Portofino for September for a week just in case we can't move before then. This will be our first time at HHN. The boys will like it, Liv and I will do other stuff at night!

I am glad to see you and you guys look great!!

Aw, bobbie, I'm so sorry to hear that your plans have been put on hold. That's so frustrating. There's nothing worse than being in limbo (except maybe being in quarantine LOL). I hope we all manage to slow the spread of this terrible virus so life can return to some semblance of normal.

I am thrilled to know you still have some park time planned for the fall. You are not going to give HHN a try? (I really do think you'd like it!)

Glad to have you reading along and joining in the chatter. Its fun to have our big group all together again!
 
OMG, she's growing so fast!!
Too fast! :sad:
Hope you are staying safe and well......are you off work during the self quarantine?
We are staying home as much as possible! Hoping for some more warm weather to get the baby out for some walks and fresh air! I’m actually able to work from home, so l haven’t missed any work. Jeremy is considered essential since he works for the railroad so he has been going to work as normal.
Did I read somewhere that you guys are planning to head to Orlando in the fall? Will this trip be with the babe or adults-only? Any chance your dates might overlap with ours?
We are! This is going to be an adults only HHN-centric trip. Just a long weekend, so the baby is going to stay with her Nana and Papa for a couple nights. Unfortunately our trips don’t overlap :( we’re going 9/17-9/20
 

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