travel | The Angel Forever

Category Archives travel

Wedding Day – 10 Years Ago

Posted on June 24, 2011 12:00 am by TheAngelForever

Wow. Ten years ago today I married JL. Way back in the day, he was not TechyDad. The Angel Forever was getting ready to become the Mrs to her Long Island Love.

At that point in our lives we knew that one day we would be parents, but were young, naïve, and focused on our wedding day. The stresses leading up to our magical day all melted away on that beautiful Sunday morning. Before we knew it, our ketubah was signed and we were standing under the chuppah in front of all of our family and friends.

Most of the actual wedding day events are a blur to me. I hardly recall eating, drinking, or much. Thank goodness we have photos. Here is a rare moment when we sat down at our wedding table. Note that even Mickey and Minnie were invited to celebrate before we went to visit them on our honeymoon.

The next morning we left early for our long awaited Disney World honeymoon. This was JL’s first time there and I was determined to make him as crazy about Disney. I do believe it worked.

We had a magical ten days at Disney dining, exploring, relaxing, and romancing. I think JL saw that Disney World is not just for kids. We went to see Cirque du Soleil La Nouba, and did several behind the scene tours and were spoiled as newlyweds. Yes, we were Disneyfied!

Since we stayed at The Beach Club Resort, we walked from our resort into Epcot a lot to dine. We would enter the park via France in World Showcase. Almost ten years later, we stopped for a rare photo together while visiting France

My letter to TechyDad from last year still holds true. I am beyond lucky to have an amazing husband and best friend. It has been quite an adventure the last 10 years, and I look forward to many more magical moments together. I love you with all of my heart and look forward to the rest of our lives together.

So my question to everyone today:

Where did you go on your honeymoon and have you ever been back? If you are waiting for the honeymoon of your dreams, where would you like to go?

For more wedding photos and memories:

Pssst . . . be sure to stop by my Cars 2 giveaway to enter for a chance to win some great items.

____________________________________________________________________________

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 linky there if you are participating.

Aloha #157

Categories:
Aloha Friday Disney dreams fun jl looking back photos summer TechyDad travel vacation

Tuesday Tales – Taking Books to Travel

Posted on March 1, 2011 10:44 am by TheAngelForever

Books are a huge part of our life, even when we travel. Each time that we have gone on a trip that involves an airplane, I buy the boys some new books and things to keep them busy. Our upcoming trip is no different. Today, the books that we bought for the kids to pack and look at on our next Disney adventure arrived.

These are now tucked away to be a surprise for when we sit down on the airplane. If you have any other ideas for airplane or quiet time when on a vacation, I would love to hear them.

So what have you read recently? Please be sure to link up to your Book Posts, and/or leave a comment below. Include something you read on your own, with a child or someone else. Tuesday Tales are all about spreading the love for books.

Categories:
books Disney DisneySMMoms travel Tuesday Tales

New found flying fears

Posted on February 19, 2010 12:00 am by TheAngelForever

I have a confession to make. . .

In recent years, I have started to fear flying in airplanes. I think it started after our trip to Disney World in May and intensified when we flew to, and especially from, the Disney Social Media Moms Celebration.

On our way home from Disney World in May, we had a rocky landing. Turbulence was bad through most of the flight. My stomach sunk down to my feet many times. As someone that likes wild rides, this hit me hard. Never before did I feel each and every move of the plane like I did on that flight. I never said anything about my fears because I did not want my boys to hear anything.

Leading up to our trip to the conference, I started to have nightmares about flying. It worried me that it may be trying to tell me something given the huge storm we had to fly around/through/over. I ignored them and we flew down to Disney on the 6th. That flight was pretty uneventful. I kept busy sitting with NHL. We looked out the window and wrote stories together.

Coming home, I sat with JSL. He did not want to do much aside from look at books and rest on me. My mind was able to think about every move that I felt the plane make. As we were about 30 miles out from home, it got really rocky thanks to the strong winds (darn winter flying). The plane moved up and down, left and right over and over again. It was worse than any ride we had done at Disney World. Perhaps it was sitting in the last row, but it scared the you know what out of me!

Once we got off the plane, I was SO happy to be back on the ground. I am so glad that we can take the train to BlogHer and not worry about air travel for a little while. So my question to you this week:

Do you like to travel by airplane? Either way, what do you do to keep your mind off of things once you are up in the air?

_____________________________________________________________________________

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 MckLinky there if you are participating.

Aloha #87

Categories:
Aloha Friday DisneySMMoms jsl looking back me moments nhl travel

Dining in Disney World

Posted on January 14, 2010 2:58 pm by TheAngelForever

It may be sad to admit, but some of my favorite memories at Walt Disney World involve eating. Of course, if you have been to Disney World, you may understand why this is possible. Whether it is dining with Mickey, Minnie, Goofy and company at a character meal, eating a Mickey Mouse Ice Cream or rice crispy treat while watching a parade, or getting a Dole Whip to share with your hubby on your honeymoon, each are special in their own way.

During one of our visits growing up, my parents decided to get the "Food & Fun" package. To say that we ate really well would be an understatement. Thanks to that plan, my brother, father and I not only got to go parasailing twice, but my brother had his first lobster dinner. Things have changed over the years with the plans. On our honeymoon, TechyDad and I did a dining plan as well. We had 2 meals a day that included appetizer, entree, dessert and beverage/shake/smoothie. We tried amazing items that we never would have and probably never will have again. We kept track of what our bills would have been and know we saved hundreds, if not thousands of dollars.

In May when we went to Disney with the boys, we opted to get the Disney Dining Plan again. In 2009, the daily cost was $40 per adult and about $11 for a child 3-11 (I think it was 11). For each night that we stayed at the resort we received the following:

1 snack – could include a soda, ice cream treat, slice of Tie-Dye cheesecake or a number of other items. –> We used these for bagels and cream cheese or other breakfast items most days.
1 Quick Service (QS) meal that includes a meal, dessert and beverage. –> We used these for lunches and most of our meals rang up for $30-40 for 2 adults and a child. Our 2 year old ate from all of us since there was plenty to go around.
1 Table Service (TS) meal that included an entree, dessert and beverage (could also be smoothie/milk shake if available) –> This is where the money savings racked up for us. The two buffets that we went to were priced at $35 for each adult and $15 for our 5 year old son. That alone made our son’s breakfast and lunch bonus for what we had paid.

When we went in May, we planned out what restaurants we wanted for our TS meals. At the 90 day mark, I got up extra early and called the reservation line at Disney Dining (now 180 day and can be done online). I knew to start with the toughest reservation and was lucky to get the one and only slot left to Le Cellier during our stay. These are the restaurants we ate at in May:

Chef Mickey – Character meal at Contemporary Resort
50’s Prime Time Cafe – Fun restaurant at Disney Hollywood Studios
Boma – Buffet featuring African cuisine at Animal Kingdom Lodge
The Wave – Newer restaurant at Contemporary Resort
The Crystal Palace – Character meal in the Magic Kingdom that we had our son’s 2nd Birthday dinner at
Le Cellier – Restaurant in Canada at EPCOT. Happens to be one of the hardest reservations to score
Coral Reef – Restaurant at EPCOT where you dine "under the sea" looking at the aquarium from the Nemo ride

This time around, we had just about a month to plan things out. We knew that we wanted the Disney Dining plan for the extended part of our Social Media Moms Celebration. I was a little worried that we would not be able to get an Advanced Dining Reservations (ADRs). Much to my surprise, we were able to get some that were not too shabby. This time around we are going to try some breakfast character meals, the dinner ones were all booked by the time we were planning. Here are the places this time around:

Boma – Going back since we loved this last time. So friendly for vegetarians like my hubby
Donald Safari – Animal Kingdom character breakfast
Kona Cafe – Restaurant at Polynesian Resort where we had the infamous Tonga Toast on our honeymoon. This time we are trying dinner there
Tony’s – Lady & The Tramp themed Italian restaurant at the Magic Kingdom. We ate here on our honeymoon and thought it would be fun for the kids
Cape May Cafe – Character breakfast at the Beach Club Resort. Hubby and I had breakfast here on our honeymoon where Goofy was hilarious.

These should keep us filled and busy during our time. We like being able to sit down at least once a day while at Disney to regroup, relax and get ready to walk many more miles.

If you have been to Disney World, what is your favorite place to eat? Where would you love to try?

Remember to bring an appetite to Disney, eat things you have never tried before and remember it is vacation – so live a little. I ate really well last time, did not turn down cheesecake and other goodies and still lost 5 pounds thanks to all of the walking.

Some great Disney restaurant/dining resources are The Disney Food Blog (we will be taking photos for AJ while there this time) and Disney Every Day (love Amanda’s Boma breakfast tour that she did recently).

For more on Disney click on my Disney category. I have written about some of our meals, along with other items about our trip planning and Magical Disney World vacation.

Categories:
bloggy friends decisions Disney food glorious food looking back photos TechyDad travel vacation yummy

Renting a stroller at Disney World

Posted on January 12, 2010 2:55 pm by TheAngelForever

Last year, at about this time, I was working on plans for our first family Disney World vacation in May. Having been to Disney World countless times in my life, I knew there was a LOT of walking involved each day. My youngest was going to turn two during our stay, so he would need a stroller to rest/nap in during the long days. What I wondered about was my oldest son. NHL was 5 during our trip. Walking at the mall for long periods of time often makes NHL tired thanks to low muscle tone. Even without the low muscle tone, Disney walking is like nothing else you will ever experience. I knew we had to figure something out.

At first, we were going to rent a double stroller for a week at Disney. If you paid out the week, it was slightly discounted. Thank goodness I turned to the DISBoards and stumbled onto an amazing post about stroller rentals. Everyone on the post said the same thing – go to Orlando Stroller Rentals. So I went to their website and looked at the city mini double stroller. It seemed perfect since it could hold up to 100 pounds of children within it. Several of the Moms on the DISBoards mentioned that they had 5-7 years old that fit into it without a problem. I made a phone call to Orlando Stroller Rentals and spoke with Shannon, the owner. She was fabulous and answered all of my questions.

Why did we go with Orlando Stroller Rentals? Here are a few of the reasons:

Strollers are delivered to your resort/location of choice. It was waiting for us at luggage at Pop Century when we checked in.
The cost is significantly lower than Disney rentals. Was happy to give support to a small local business.
Everyone talked about how uncomfortable and small the Disney double strollers were. I did not think my youngest would be able to rest – no less have room for my 5 year old son.
Picture after picture showed children asleep in these city mini double strollers at Disney World
We would be able to take the strollers from the resort to the park and back. Disney strollers must stay in the parks only – so we would not have them to travel around property or shop at Downtown Disney.
When we were finished with the stroller, we simply returned it where we had picked it up and Shannon would retrieve it.

Our Thoughts:

We loved the double stroller from Orlando Stroller Rentals. It made our trip even more magical. We had a place for both of the boys to rest comfortably. Much to our surprise, our 5 year old seemed to use it more than our 2 year old who wanted to walk with Daddy. The stroller was easy to push around the parks. We had plenty of room, even at Pop Century to fit it in our room at night. With a few tries, opening and closing to take on and off the Disney buses was simple. Both of the boys would sit under the shades to keep cool and relax as we walked from area to area. In addition to this, at night when the kids were exhausted from a day in the heat they could sleep as we wandered back to our resort. Another plus is the stroller was easy to pick out in the mass of strollers parked outside of attractions. They were not only bright orange, but Shannon also has a laminated name badge attached to the stroller.

Our experience was so wonderful that when we were planning this quick trip to Disney for the Social Media Moms Celebration, I immediately called Shannon to see availability of strollers. Lucky for us, we were able to get one for the time we will be there. This will be fabulous not only for our time together as a family, but also when TechyDad is flying solo with the boys.

Now I just need to walk up a storm and get my arms ready to push the boys in the stroller that we will be renting from Orlando Stroller Rentals.

Disclosure: This review of Orlando Stroller Rentals that was done on my own, I received no compensation. We paid in full for our trip in May and are doing so again in February. This post was written to let others know about this wonderful business and service they provide to families visiting Walt Disney World.