Catching up…..

Finally settled in Virginia for the summer!

More free time and great internet!

So over the next few weeks we will be catching up on all our Disney Adventures from April 2009.

More to follow soon!

Arrived in Virginia – Lake Ridge Resort

Monday – April 27th. We arrived safely at Legacy’s Lake Ridge Resort in Hillsville Virginia. It’s great to be back here for a second season. We decided to make the 300 mile trip in one day driving… this is a little beyond our normal limit of around 250 miles / day. Before leaving Myrtle Beach we re-routed our route to avoid side roads and small towns and stay on the major highways… this added 40 miles to our trip but was worth it in the end it to keep moving and not have a lot of stop and go’s. Add to that, two little detours while on the road and trip turned into a nifty 350 miles. 350 is a odd number of miles… too close to made it two days… too far to make it one without being really whooped. So here we are 350 miles… 8 hours…and sore, achy, and really wiped out! I figure a good night’s sleep, 2 naps, and 4-6 hours of doing nothing but piddling around, should make for a nice recovery day. If only I had one of those pineapple-coconut-tropical-rum-frozen-drinks!

More to follow on our Disney Vacation with Family … a little behind on blogs… especially without internet at Myrtle Beach. After a week at the beach… literally on the beach in the sand… I may have to change one of my favorite sayings…

“Life is a Beach” … and than there’s the sand!

If you are coming by here anytime in the next 6 months (sounds like a long time… but it will go really fast ) maybe you’d like to stop by to see us and the resort. It’s up on top of the mountain and generally much cooler than down in the valley or the coast. Lots of rolling hills, beautiful trees, a really nice campground! See ya later!

Myrtle Beach Campground

This trip to Myrtle Beach we are staying for the first time at Apache Campground in North Myrtle Beach.

Like many of the beachfront campgrounds here… it’s was designed so many years ago when Rv’s were smaller and didn’t have slide-outs…. and despite the increase in size of the Rv’s… upgrades to the sites has not been part of the program. When we arrived we had an empty sites on both sides of our site… so it was fairly easy to get onto the site… despite the fact that we only have 10 inches of clearance on one side and 18 inches on the other… utilities and a picnic table canopy. Despite my questions prior to arriving I was assured that they could accommodate a 40 foot fifth wheel trailer with 3 large opposing slides… and a large tow vehicle. When looking at other sites here in the campground… it is apparent that this problem could have been easily avoided if we had been placed on a site that was larger (wider), and not one of the smallest. Perhaps a bit more consideration when assigning sites, by a more knowledgeable staff, and this situation would not be an issue. So if you plan a trip to Myrtle Beach… perhaps Apache Campground is not the best choice for larger Rv’s… unless you truly can get them to put you on a site that leans towards being a wider site and not one of the smallest for a large rig. Aside from this issue… the campground is right on the beach… just walk to the ocean… and that’s nice. Beware of the “Wi-Fi available” …. at $9.95/day it’s a rip-off.

Myrtle Beach – Barefoot Landing

In years gone by a visit to Barefoot Landing was a true treat… both for shopping, eating, or simply enjoying the varied, unusual, and unique little shops and sidewalk vendors. Window shopping and going from store to store gave you a variety of treats both to please the eye and the ear. Quite the variety of things from kites & flags to clothes and all kinds of touristy things that made you smile and feel good… especially if you could resist the urge to actually purchase them… memories are priceless and cost much less to possess. All in all a very good experience that was enhanced by the excitement of the crowds enjoying the experience with you. Now 5 years later, and with the economic downturn over the last 7 months… what was once a great experience is now lacking in all most every aspect . Many stores have gone out of business and the empty remains and papered windows resemble the dead next to the dying. The stores that remain are all vying for the too few customers that do walk through the once great tourist area. Many all have special sales 15-20% off entire store and many more with 40-50% off special items. Even with the special reduced prices, the already too few people, don’t seem to be buying much at all… it does make you wonder how many more stores will perish… and if the once great tourist Mecca will ever regain it’s once greatness. It’s a sad thing to see. If you have visited in the past… perhaps you will be better off with your good memories vs... the hard reality of what is has become. The sad reality is … everything changes, and not always for the better. We have no desire to return any time soon… but wish it well. Rather sounds like a eulogy…. Amen.

Catching Up…. the summary….

Thursday 4/23…. A time to catch up…. plan to update blog starting next week. There’s been simply too much to do, and it has taken up all of our time for the last 4 weeks! Will continue our blog on our Miami stay and Adventures in the Keys plus the first week of vacation at Disney with 12 family members… Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Animal Kingdom, Magic Kingdom, and Seaworld… what a wild time. Followed by another 2 weeks trying to do everything possible with Kayla before we leave Orlando. We went to Magic Kingdom again 3 times…. Epcot 2 times… Studios 2 times… and Animal Kingdom 2 times… and Seaworld once again. Kayla got to see and do everything, and meet all the Princesses at Disney. We all went up in the Seaworld Sky Tower… 300 feet… and the Downtown Disney “Characters in Flight” balloon… it went up 400 feet high. Than goodbye to Disney and travel to Myrtle Beach… 2 days driving. Myrtle Beach has been about the same as Disney… busy, busy, busy. Going everyday… to the beach, Broadway at the Beach, Ripley’s Aquarium, Margaretville Cafe, Buffett’s “Cheeseburger in Paradise” … three times for happy hour 1/2 price wings, a new movie house with state of the art 3-D digital projectors and sound… saw Monsters vs. Aliens 3-D, and plans to go to Medieval Times for dinner & the show. Been a bit chilly and very windy… and the 90,000 acre wild fire just two miles away will hopefully be controlled soon. Charred embers are falling into the campground and 5000 homes have already been evacuated... 40 homes lost to the fire. Roads are closed due to smoke and we hope that vacation here is not cut short. Smoke currently not a factor here at the campground yet. Fire burning 24 hours now (Thursday 4/23, 2pm). Sky is all aglow at night.

More to follow in details as I update the blog.

Currently no internet here at the campground… or at least nothing that I am willing to pay at the outrageous rate of $10/day. LATER !

A Star is Born!

A Star is Born!

Take one part Kayla…

one camera…

a flash…

and what do you get?

Instant Movie Star!

(or a little ham)

see for yourself….

Making the most out of Kayla’s visit!

Making the most out of Kayla’s visit with us. She flew down to Florida with her uncle Doug and we picked her up at the airport… and thus began a great vacation time for us all. First week together was at Disney with us, Kayla, and family. We stayed an additional 2 weeks in Orlando (after family went home) to see Disney & SeaWorld as much as possible while we had Kayla with us. We went somewhere everyday. All total… if memory serves me… we went to Magic Kingdom 4 times, Epcot 3 times, Animal Kingdom 2 times, Studios 2 times, and Seaworld 2 times. We pretty much got to see and do everything… and something’s twice. Everything pretty much on the spur of the moment and where ever our next whim took us … no plans… just flittering from one thing to another… kinda like butterflies… no knowing where the rest of the day would take us. Anywhere… favorite rides, favorite shows, favorite parades and fireworks…Kayla loved the fireworks… 3 times at Magic Kingdom, twice at Epcot. She was a little scared on some of the rides… a little too dark or too fast a ride… but got over it real quick and got back on a second time. Character greetings were a big hit… she met just about everyone… Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Daisy, Goofy, Pluto, all the princesses… Cinderella, Belle, Ariel, Sleeping Beauty, Jasmine… and the fairies… Tinkerbell, and her fairy friends… and many other characters as we went from park to park. Kayla got 2 different princess outfits to wear into the parks… Snow White and Jasmine. She also got a little something from each of the parks as a keepsake. I can’t imagine how we could have done any more without falling over exhausted… the exhausted part we already had… we just hadn’t fallen over yet! Two trips to SeaWorld rounded out our vacation where we saw all the shows… Shamu’s twice… plus the Shamu night show… and again pretty well did everything… except the big coasters… maybe later! We still found time to go to Downtown Disney twice, go to the movies, eat at T-Rex, and go up in the new balloon ride… “Characters in Flight”. We thought the SeaWorld SkyTower was neat at 300 feet… the Balloon fright… I mean flight… went to 400 feet and we could see all of Disney and SeaWorld far away… this was really a treat! We saved a little time to visit some of our friends before we left Orlando and wished with well until we would see them again. What a wonderful time! Lots of great pictures! Lots of great memories! And …. some lessons learned… while Kayla got to see every Disney character… greetings, parades, shows, attractions etc…. she explained to me that Ariel wasn’t real. I asked… “What do you mean? I saw her!” … and she explained to me that Ariel was just a pretty lady dressed up to look like Ariel… she wasn’t real like the others (characters). So much to my disappointment I had to accept the fact that Ariel really wasn’t real… sure hope big Kevin doesn’t find out! Precious moments… I can still remember holding Kayla up in my arms so she could see (over the crowd) the SpectroMagic Light Parade the very first time… I spent most of my time watching her face as she saw all the floats and the performers in the parade… now that was a advertisement for “Priceless”. As I recall… my back, legs, and knees remembered that for several days too… though not with quite the same degree of happiness. And so ended our whirlwind Disney Adventures… and I was looking forward to Myrtle Beach and a little more relax time… well… maybe in Virginia!

Family at Disney April 2009

Family at Disney… what can I say…

What could be better !

Every couple of years we have a great time with family at Disney. What makes this even better is we can get most of them in for Free! Since we are seasonal cast members at Disney… one of the perks is free passes to get family & friends in for free…. what a great benefit. While limited to 6 at a time, plus ourselves, it’s still a tremendous savings… but not to fear… Disney makes it up in food and merchandise sales to the point where it’s hard to tell what you really saved.

First stop… Magic Kingdom. While most of the attractions at Magic Kingdom have been there for years… it’s always great to see them again. Of course there’s always something new … a new show, new attraction, new ride, or merely upgrades and improvements to the older favorites. Something new, something fresh, and old favorites… what could be better! ? ….maybe… taking in family that has never been to Disney before!

Family this year included Doug & Cindy, Kelli & Kevin… their 3 kids… Bayne, Shyler, & little Kevin, Kayla our grand-daughter… and of course, me (Richard) & Shelly… 10 in all! Kelli, Kevin, their 3 kids, and Kayla are all new to Disney…. the rest of us have been there before… and of course, me & Shelly are there several months each year… working and playing… okay… mostly playing. This was especially true for 2008 were we worked a grand total of 67 hours in 4 months… that’s a lot of play time! With so much to do… so much to see, it was hard to keep everyone from scattering to see things that most interested them… so plans were made to split up and rejoin each other through out the day. It was a bit busy at Disney with the upcoming Easter Holiday… so splitting up part of the time made it easier to see the things on everyone’s list… and made getting back together all the more enjoyable… everyone had a super story to tell about what they had seen or done.

It’s still is … as past years themes were so appropriately called…

“Magical Gatherings”, “Happiest Place on Earth”, and “Where Dreams Come True”.

The following days took us to EPCOT, Animal Kingdom, and a return trip to Magic Kingdom.

Disney’s Hollywood Studios and SeaWorld would have to wait for another time. The planned trip to Seaworld gave way to a much needed time to rest and relax… a Disney vacation is no vacation without relax time… and this was no exception… certainly this close to Easter… too warm & too busy. I have a preference to go in when it’s slower & cool… no crowds… walk right onto most rides… and a cooler 70 degrees is just perfect for me!

There were far too many specific things to mention tell exactly what we all did… 4 trips into the parks… countless shows, attractions, rides, and character greetings… needless to say… we did a lot! Only one person truly missed seeing the one thing they really wanted to see… Kevin really wanted to see Ariel… not little Kevin… big Kevin… but such is life… maybe next time! But… he still has a great shirt to have forever. After a fun filled week of Disney and 18-20 meals on the run… it was time for everyone to return to a normal life and go home to jobs and such…. and a well deserved rest.

Kayla had her first airplane flight when she flew down to Florida with Doug, and she will be with us for another two weeks at Disney/Seaworld… than another week at Myrtle Beach… right on the ocean… and than will return to her momma & papa once we go to Virginia. But that’s another story!

Back to Orlando (April 2009)

It’s the end of March and we headed back to Orlando for a 3 week stay in Orlando to enjoy Disney with family. Week number one… 12 of us go onto Disney for a week of fun… followed by another two weeks with just us and Kayla ( 4 year old grand-daughter).

We stay at two places while in Orlando… Thousand Trails and Deer Creek Fawn Ridge. Most of the winter crowd was still there late March… but with each passing day more and more leave to go home. More open space for us! The winter “snow-bird” crowd are somewhat clickish at TT & DC… and if this isn’t the issue, age difference usually is. We have some wonderful friends that are older than us, but most older folks flock together.

Both campgrounds are nice and we usually get a spot to our liking… our site is our home… at least for 2 weeks at a time.

More on the Disney vacation to follow!

Fun, fun,fun, … until we dropped !

Too Busy to Blog….

For everyone that visits our Blog….

We are busy going into Disney,

Seaworld, and doing other things with family…

there’s no time to blog…

well… it’s blog or sleep…

really need the sleep!

Entries coming soon!

Lots to catch up on!

Richard