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Suitcase solutions

Posted on January 30, 2009 9:01 am by TheAngelForever

When we were married we had a lot of items on our registry. Thanks to keeping a kosher kitchen, we needed two of most cooking items (meat and dairy). With this in mind, we did not register for luggage. JL had a few small pieces and we were given a large one from my grandmother to use for our honeymoon. When we went to Las Vegas Aunt S and Uncle M gave us another piece to use for taking dress clothing.

It has been over six years since our last big trip. When we travel to Disney World we will have to pack for four people for an entire week. Clearly, the few small bags we own will not cut it. So we need to research luggage brands, acceptable sizes for airlines and all of the rest that goes along with serious suitcase studies.

Back in December, on my birthday, I received an e-mail that I had won a Lands’ End rolling duffel bag from Did You See That? I was so excited because it was something we needed very badly. Last night, I packed it for the first time. There is so much room in it thanks to well defined compartments. I was able to put winter clothing for an entire weekend for the two boys and myself. Here are photos of it all packed and ready to go.

Now I wonder if we should take this with us and maybe get more of the larger ones for Disney and beyond. So my question this week:

Do you have any suggestions on what type of luggage to look for? What have you had success with that is durable and good for family travel?

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Thanks to Kailani at An Island Life for starting this fun for Friday. Please be sure to head over to her blog to say hello and sign the Mr. Linky there if you are participating. Th

Aloha #33

Categories:
Aloha Friday decisions photos travel Web business web fun

100 days to go

Posted on January 29, 2009 9:31 am by TheAngelForever

Starting tomorrow, there will no longer be a three digit number standing between us and Disney World. The magic number is 100 today and it seems quite surreal. Of course, part of that could be the snow and ice that was left on our lawn yesterday turning our front porch into a hockey rink.

Since I last wrote about our family Disney trip some things have changed. My parents, otherwise known as Nana and Papa on my blog, will be joining us. They were not sure about it at first, but eventually were excited to jump at the opportunity. JL and I think it will be fabulous to have them there to see the boys on their first trip to see the magic of Disney. My parents are the ones that started this "illness" with me so many years ago. We will be going down on the same flight, staying at the same hotel and making some dinner reservations together.

We have a little over a week to go until we can make our advanced dining reservations (ADRs) with Disney. This means that we are in the final preparations of making our list for dinner sit down restaurants. Some of this is complicated right now thanks to the calendars for May still not being available at the parks. We would like to know which nights certain events will be at locations so we can be there. It obviously makes sense to have dinner at those parks, or nearby so we can get to them.

One other little item, we need restaurants that are vegetarian friendly. JL and I have a kosher kitchen at home. When dining out JL prefers to eat vegetarian or fish (like salmon, mahi mahi, tuna…. not seafood) to make things easier for him. This has certainly nixed going to some restaurants that barely had any food options for him.

At this point we know that we will make the following reservations:

Chef Mickey – the evening that we arrive. Perhaps this will become an arrival day tradition. This reservation is already made since it can be done 180 days out.
Crystal Palace – likely for JSL’s 2nd birthday. He knows Winnie the Pooh and friends and should have a blast there (assuming the characters do not freak him out).
Boma – at the Animal Kingdom Lodge this restaurant has a buffet that has African specialities that look amazing.
50’s Prime Time Cafe – fun restuarant that has really expanded more options to JL since our honeymoon. We did not go there 8 years ago, but I loved the antics there when I was a kid.

With the four choices above, it only leaves us with three sit down meals that need to be covered. Of course we also need to figure out if we want to do a more leisurely breakfast and make reservations for that.

Places that are on the likely list for dinner:

Le Cellier – JL and I ate here twice on our honeymoon. It is an amazing restaurant that is now quite difficult to get into. Who knew it would become so popular over the years?!
Coral Reef – although it has mixed reviews we think the boys will love watching the fish. My parents and I also have fond memories of eating there years ago. Nothing like watching a waiter teach your little brother how to eat a lobster!

Still debating:

Spoodles – JL and I also ate here twice on our honeymoon. It was on the Boardwalk right near our hotel and had amazing food. Not too sure how the boys and my father will do here thanks to the limited menu that is online.
Marrakesh – The restaurant at Morocco in EPCOT looks fabulous, but I have read that the quick service Tangierine Cafe is great, so that may just hit the mediterranean fix we need.
Sci Fi Drive In – A really neat restaurant with decent food. JL and I went there on our honeymoon and think that the seating with the boys may be hard to deal with. This is probably a place we will leave to do when they are older and will appreciate the fun movies more.

That is the short list of places that we came up with using the restaurant information here, in the DIS discussion forums, and in books. There are so many options and everything sounds so amazing. This week we hope to have more information on park hours and night events so we can make our plans. With any luck, we will be able to get our reservations with no issue on the 90 day mark. I know my alarm will be set on that morning.

If you have been to Disney lately any dining suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Categories:
decisions Disney family travel vacation

Another camera bites the dust

Posted on January 23, 2009 9:37 am by TheAngelForever

It has not been a very good week with electronics in our household. First, my cell phone decides to spontaneously crack. Apparently it could not handle the extreme cold and the hard plastic just gave up. Of course, my warranty is no longer valid. For $50 they would give me an identical phone, but I am eligible for new phone in June. We will be digging out one of our old phones until after our trip to Disney World.

The real kicker is this:

My precious digital camera is basically dead. The item that I keep with me practically at all times has kicked the bucket. For several months, I blamed our rechargeable batteries for everything that was happening. Little did I know, it was the camera the entire time. The Canon camera that I purchased in the fall just over a year ago is gone! The battery sensors are not working properly. The other day I put in fresh batteries, took 3 photos and the camera started to flash low battery and then shut down. JL took the batteries to work to check their voltage readings. Sure enough, they were 100% perfect. Do you know how many stinking batteries I thought were no good because of this camera? Grrrr!

This will be the second digital dud that I have purchased. It just does not seem right to me for a camera to only last 12-14 months (my last one did not even make it that long – that was a Fuji). Of course, the review for this camera were amazing when we bought it. Then last month JL did some research and others were complaining about the same battery sensor troubles. Canon will allow us to ship it to them to check and then tell us the cost of repair. My theory, it will cost way more to fix this camera than just purchasing a new one. Does this make me angry? YES!

So my question to you today:

Do you have any suggestions on a new digital camera? I want one that will last several years (a fair request I believe), has its own lithium battery within (no more replacement batteries), and is portable for on the go. One other item, I would prefer something other than Fuji and Canon for obvious reasons.

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Thanks to Kailani at An Island Life for starting this fun for Friday. Please be sure to head over to her blog to say hello and sign the Mr. Linky there if you are participating. Th

Aloha #32

Categories:
Aloha Friday customer service decisions me moments shopping

Family vacation planning

Posted on January 8, 2009 9:15 am by TheAngelForever

Planning a vacation for our family is new to us. Sure we have gone away before. All of those trips were to visit family and/or friends for a long weekend at the most. Nothing involved a car trip longer than 6 hours, and certainly not an airplane. Fact is, I have not been on an airplane since December 2002 and so much has changed in that time.

In just about four months, we will be heading to Walt Disney World with the boys. This is a huge adventure for all of us. A first time trip to the magical world of Disney for the boys and first time in an airplane. My mother has commented that I am more excited than she has heard in quite some time. This is very true. It is always wonderful to have something to look forward to.

Unfortunately, with the fun and excitement comes the inevitable planning and some stress. Here are a few things that have been on the plate so far.

Which hotel do we stay at? – If you have been to Disney World lately, then you know there are a lot of resorts on ground to pick from. There are value, moderate, and delux accomodations. We opted to try a value resort for the first time. After booking our trip we changed from All Star Movies to Pop Century because of a few items we learned about. JL and I also found out about activities at Pop Century that sound amazing. We do not need the extra frills when we can save money. The money saved now could be for a future trip back to Disney World after all.

Do we haul our stroller or rent there? – This was a question that I posed on a Disney forum that I recently joined. I knew that we would need to rent a stroller no matter what. Although NHL is five, Disney is a lot of walking for my adult legs. When I asked in the forums about this several people suggested not only to rent a double stroller, but to stray from Disney. Everyone mentioned Orlando Stroller Rentals. The people had links to reviews and the website with photos of the stroller that you can rent. The best part is the double jogger can accomodate up to 100 pounds of kids, they deliver and pick up from the hotel, it folds easy, is comfy for JSL to nap in, and saved us about $90 over Disney. Now I just need to figure out a rain cover to buy for it.

Which parks do we go to on what days? – Yes, vacationing with family means being flexible.Fact is that at Disney World reservations for dining book quickly. If we do not set up plans in the 90 days before our trip, we may not get our preferred times to dine (if we can get them at all). Thanks to this, we know our magic 90 day date and have to figure out where we would like to dine so we can attempt to make reservations. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Just note that JL eats vegetarian when out, but this includes fish like salmon (no seafood like shrimp/clams/scallops/lobster).

When will Disney release the park hours for May? – We only have one month before we can schedule our advanced dining reservations (ADR). That means we would like to know the hours of the parks to figure out where we should go. The only definite plan now is to go to the Magic Kingdom the first full day we are there. Beyond that it is hard to know without the hours. We certainly do not want to hop buses for reservations, we would rather just spend the time we want at the park that we will dine at later on.

Should we take our laptop with us? – The easy answer would be no, but TechyDad and I are not sure we want to be without it. Aside from taking the bag with us on the flight, the real issue is internet service. Believe it or not, Disney does not have Wifi at their resorts. We were pretty surprised with that. Disney also charges for use of internet while on grounds. The rate at this point is $10 for a 24 hour period. This is something we will definitely be debating.

What should we do on JSL’s 2nd birthday? – We will actually be at Disney World for the little guy’s birthday. Sure he will not really appreciate a lot of it, but we still have to do something special for him. We will likely do a character meal on that day, but not 100% sure what at this point. Of course we are hoping that he will not be terrified of the costumes like his big brother.

Should we take the travel insurance for the trip? – Right now we are waiting for the information sheets about this from the travel agent. I want to know what benefit it has over what the hotel and airline will cover anyway.

Thanks to these and a few other quetions, we have been doing a lot of research. Amazing people online in the Disney forums, on Twitter, along with other friends and family have been weighting in on some of them.

Categories:
decisions Disney travel vacation

Tooth wiggles or not

Posted on January 5, 2009 9:40 am by TheAngelForever

Yesterday, while sitting on the couch playing Nintendo DS , NHL told me that his tooth hurt. Hmmm. . . . this was something he has never said before. Of course, I asked him to come over to show me what was bothering him. He said that two of his teeth hurt. Nothing was visibly wrong, so I went further. Since NHL is almost 5 1/2 now I knew that it could be an adult tooth pushing up on one of his baby teeth.

Sure enough, when I touched the one tooth it seemed to wiggle ever so slightly. When I told NHL the news he jumped up and down and was so excited. When I looked a little closer I was not sure if I saw the new tooth moving in behind the baby tooth. I will keep an eye on it in case we need to make a dentist appointment to have it checked or pulled. JL had to have all but two of his teeth pulled (same for my brother), so they may not loosen easily.Thanks to the new developments, we need to figure out what we are going to do when he does have a tooth come out.

So I ask you: What do you do, are you a Tooth Fairy Family? Please tell me what the Tooth Fairy does in your house, or what you do instead of the Tooth Fairy.

Thanks so much for your ideas, I have a feeling I may be needing them sooner rather than later.