Orlando Florida

[Kristie]

So, I'm back! and i've noticed it's gotten really really quiet.. are ya'll really busy with the holidays and did you have a good turkey weekend?

I spent my turkey weekend in Orlando. My sister lives in Celebration with her hubby, who works for Disney. I stayed at the Travellodge Hotel (where the rooms are indoors, which i prefer when traveling alone) on Hwy 192 (Irlo Bronson). It was a GREAT hotel for the $$, but still needs some updating. See the photo on the pix.pilotfamilies.com page. I paid inbetween $44-50 per night (the cheapest HOTEL I could find at the time). The beds were very comfortable, i was out like a light in no time and the shower hot, hardly no fluxuation in temperature, and strong... even though there are stains on the floors (hallways and rooms)and it looks like a place "not" fit for kids (because of the need to update), the place was clean enough and comfortable enough which made it well worth the price. For that type of comfort, you'd think you'd pay at least $80/nt.. but my bet is that they have lower prices because they haven't changed out any of the carpets, bedspreads or what not. but there's my 0.02 on the Travellodge hotel... if you don't mind it looking/feeling OLD like an old las vegas un-updated hotel.. then I recommend it!

I found a couple of other hotels that are nearby celebration and disney (Quality Inn & Comfort Suites) that I may try out next time around which will hopefully be in a few weeks cuz i already miss my neice! haha

Orlando was a BLAST this time around. I used to live there for a good 10 years and got really sick of it, but when you have a relative that works at disney and can get you into the parks for free and into property control (inside-disney store).. then it's becomes much more fun again!

We went to Epcot and walked around, we went to MGM and saw the Osbourne Family Christmas "Spectacle of lights", we walked around Animal Kingdom and went to Magic Kingdom as well.

we ate at the Animal Kingdom Resorts Restaurant called Jiko. The food was excellent, yet very expensive (in my eyes), like $26 for a plate of Lamb Shank (which to me was large enough to be "sheep" shank, i'm not quite sure it was lamb since the bone was so large! but it did fall right off the bone, no knife needed and was just T A S T Y!). We ate at Mama Melroses italian restaurant in MGM.. the service was sucky in my opinion (had to wait 10 extra minutes for a booth that we requested hours before - they decided to put us at a table and my BIL didn't like that since he requested a booth). The wine was great, but the food was mmmm.. ok IMO...for 3 people, the prices weren't too bad.

My sister, baby and I went to property control and I bought oodles of Tshirts that were either discontinued, had a hole, wrong stiching or stained.. I actually found a few with what seems like nothing wrong with them and got 75% off on everything I bought there.. then we went to another property control store where everything was brand new and got a good 40-50% off... luckily, i brought 2 extra bags with me to haul everything back and goshdurnit, if it all didn't fit for the trip home! [img]images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

there's a holiday sale that starts I think this weekend, so i'm going to try and go back again in a few weeks to do some more serious shopping! at prices like that, you just can't beat it! [img]images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img] I mean, i got $400 worth of merchandise for like $120...sheesh, Disney has some good benefits!! esp when compared to our airline benefits... it's like yea, we MIGHT be able to get you there, depending on loads.. but they can get us into the parks pretty much anytime they want for nada!

meeting my neice was the highlight of the weekend.. she's just adorable and now i understand more about whatcha all mean when you talk about your kids...I took so many photos, my sister told her hubby that i was more of a photo geek than she was! hahaha

overall, a great time.. i should have some photos of julia up pretty soon.. i'm a pretty proud auntie and i can't wait to go back and take care of her again! Kathy let me feed her and change her (boy, that was kinda hard cuz she's squirmy) and i was surprised she let me do all that since she's a new mom and all...but i had such fun with it all!