happyWImom
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Posts posted by happyWImom
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Okay, I know I have another thread, but this is now specific to the resort! :D We are going to do Windsor Hills, and I'm wondering if anyone has a specific villa they loved or can recommend. I've checked a bunch already, and there are a few I like but wanted to get more input.
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My ds saw the Coral Reef Restaurant online & feels we have to go there. For the looks. :001_smile: What's the food like? Any other "musts"? Also, what about the shows; I haven't even checked into those yet.
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I know. Been there.
I have never heard of that Caribe place- but you don't pay to park at Windsor Hills either, and it's very very close to WDW. Honestly, I would just go with that and be done with it.
Yes, we are going with Windsor Hills. After many, many hours and much anguish (right decision, wrong decision-agh) the decision has been made! We would have had to shorten our stay if we would have stayed on-site, and I think we'll be less stressed with more room at Windsor Hills.
I did check with Travel Guard insurance & know we'll be covered, but I'm also going to look at the one Jennifer recommended.
Thanks!
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Okay, I don't know if anyone is still following this, but we priced everything out today & there is no way we can do on-site for 7nt end of Feb. (At least not staying in any type of a suite). My mom just about died when I told her the price. So, is anyone familiar with Caribe Royale Orlando. They have suites, are only a mile away & have free parking. That is key, because we will have to pay for parking at Disney, so we can't afford double parking fees.
I was still considering the Windsor Hills, but am concerned about cancellation. I always purchase travel insurance and am not sure if it would be applicable if I book Windsor Hills.
I'm starting to really stress out, because i feel like I've spent the last few days online researching everything and have become more confused.
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Here's who we used and she was lovely to work with and the unit was gorgeous.
http://www.laughingplacevilla.com/
Fastpasses are for everyone now, but onsite guests may have more benefits associated with that. We visited this past February. Someone who's been there more recently may be able to help you with that. easywdw.com is a great place to go for all things Disney :)
Here villas look fabulous! With their own private pools-I love it! I've already sent her an email! Thanks much. :001_smile:
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If we do Windsor Hills, any specific recommendations? And do/should I book through floridasunvacationhomes.com? Wyndham Bonnet Creek looks wonderful, but if I'm just booking right on their website, they are a lot more expensive than Windsor Hills. Do you use any other booking sites?
If I try for on-site, I might look specifically at Fort Wilderness because it does seem more laid back & less hectic. What do you think the least expensive, safe way would be to book it?
I know I can only do the meal plan if we stay on-site, but what about that fast pass thing? Can you only get that if you stay on-site?
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Now, OP, can we help you with dining? :D :D :D
Sure! We try to eat healthy, if possible and are gluten-free-as of right now. Not sure if that will change by Feb. but it's been a pain eating out: I have to do my research ahead of time.
The reason I did want something with some sort of kitchen/ette was because I was envisioning most days eating breakfast in the room, eating most lunches out and coming back for dinner-either making it or bringing something back. I know we would want to be at the park a couple of nights, but for the most part, do fairly early evenings. We will want a couple of nice dinners out, I'm sure, but if we've been running around all day, my dc are better if we can eat in without all of the chaos.
Which is why I still am thinking maybe off-site (as close as possible) might be best. I'm going to start plugging in dates to get an idea of cost, and I'm betting that will make my decision. So, stand-by for more in depth questions as I continue-please! :001_smile:
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I agree with the above poster. Staying offsite doesn't necessarily mean battling traffic. We've stayed in Bonnet Creek which is closer to Hollywood Studios than some Disney resorts. The road system at Disney is quite good and we never encountered traffic. It took hardly any time to get to the parking lots. We had no problem getting back to the condo for a mid day break.
When you've stayed there, how do you usually book it?
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If you want two separate bedrooms, your best bet would be to rent DVC.
And no, four nights in Disney isn't really enough.
I also admit that I'm completely biased, and will not stay off-site. I've done it twice (in my youth when I had no choice), and I will never repeat it. And the end of a long day in the parks (and it will be long, because you won't be able to go back to your hotel for a nap or a pool break), the LAST thing I want to do is pile in a hot car and try to navigate the going home traffic. Disney World is HUGE...it's not a "drive through the gate and you're in the parking lot" type of deal AT ALL. I also like to be there early (rope drop) to do the headliner attractions without a line. Because waiting in line sucks. I also like the extra magic hours, and all the other perks that come from staying on property.
For DVC rentals, Dave's vacation rentals is a good one. www.dvcrequest.com They're very reliable, and I've never had a problem using them. They're recommended by many disney sites.
I really appreciate the DVC rental info. We've never used anything like that, and my mom might get nervous without recommendations! What is the procedure? Sorry to be so dense. :001_smile:
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We now stay offsite. We get a 3 BR condo at Windsor Hills for around $100 a night. We love it.
We go back during the middle of the day almost every day- it takes less time to drive to and from the condo than it does to utilize the Disney bus system.
We rent from this place:
www.floridasunvacationhomes.com
These look great. If we actually stay for 7 nights, I think we would have to have something like this. I can't imagine just being cramped into either the Art of Animation suites or 2 regular rooms.
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We've done both on-site and off-site. They are very different trips. Here's a quick run-down of our opinions of each:
On site pros:
Disney Magic (you'll get it after your trip!)
Park your car and don't see it again until the end of your trip
Amazing resorts and pools
Extra Magic Hours (although our family has rarely ever used them - we're too tired!)
Dining plan
On site cons:
Cost
Small rooms
Off-site pros:
Large space
Often the place you stay is a resort in and of itself (Windsor Hills!)
Cheap
Laundry in the room/condo
You can cook your own food
Off-site cons:
The drive to the parks (although, we find that often it's faster to drive from Windsor Hills to a park (except Magic Kingdom) than it is to take the transportation on site)
You lose some of the magic when you leave the site
No meal plan at Disney
Ok. I'm sure there are more things. We've stayed at Windsor Hills and had an AMAZING time. We always rent from a particular man (3 br, 2 bath condo) and go off season and pay no more than $90/night.
But we love staying on property and getting the meal plan. It's a no-brainer vacation once you get there. We always get two rooms at Port Orleans Riverside. So, we all have beds and two baths. Off-property takes a little more planning once you are there. Honestly, we don't find the drive an issue each day (but be sure to budget parking at $14/day, I think).
Yes, I forgot about getting 2 rooms! That would probably be our best bet. Then, we'd just do the meal plan & not worry about a kitchenette. My parents stay in Naples in a condo for the winter, so our other option is to do Disney for maybe 4 nights, then drive to Naples & spend another 3 or 4 there, so we could decompress. Is Disney do-able in 4 nights, do you think? Or would we be making ourselves insane??? We did decide we're not doing Animal Kingdom. They want to see/do a lot at Magic Kingdom and Epcot. We had talked about Sea World and Universal, but I think that might be way too much for the first time.
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All Star suites, Art of Animation suites, Fort Wildnerness cabins. If you can swing A of A, that's the best for transportation...the buses are excellent.
The cabins at Fort Wilderness are awesome as well, but transportation from Ft. Wildnerness can require a bit of patience at times. The cabins have a full size kitchen, and Mousekeeping will do your dishes every day. There is a bedroom with a double bed and a bunk bed, a Murphy bed in the living room, and a sofa. There is only one bathroom in the cabins.
The A of A suites have two bathrooms, but only a small kitchenette.
All Star suites are not anywhere near as nice as A of A, and the resorts can be noisy, with tour groups full of teens. Especially in February.
So you just have to decide what's more important to you...a second bathroom, or a full-sized kitchen.
If you have any other questions, I'm happy to help. I've stayed at all the resorts. :D
I'm thrilled to use your expertise! I was looking at some YouTube videos of A of A, I'm just trying to think if that will work for us. The reason we wanted a separate bedroom was that even though my dc aren't really young, they have to have decent sleep or it's a nightmare. So, we wanted to be able to put them to bed & not have to go at 9pm ourselves. Except having them share a bed is not an ideal situation, either. My mom is taking myself & my 2 dc.
The 2 bathrooms isn't a big deal, but I was hoping for a separate bedroom that at least had 2 beds. All along, I guess I pictured us staying off-site (bigger rooms for less money) but we don't want to spend half our time traveling back & forth, either. :confused: How are the prices at Ft. Wilderness? Do you think that would be our best bet?
My dc aren't good with huge sensory overload, that's why I was thinking we'd not want to spend all day, every day at the parks.
Trying to figure all this out is overwhelming. And I'm a big planner/researcher and usually love this stuff. It's just so much. Onsite/offsite, meal plan or no, park hopper pass, magic pass-argh! :eek:
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We're planning a trip in Feb. & prices aren't out yet, so my research is almost impossible! But, here is where I need advice. We need a hotel that offers a suite-preferably 2 bedroom w/ kitchen or kitchenette. I'm thinking with that criteria, we will probably have to go offsite unless we want to pay an exorbitant amount of money. I think I'm fine with off-site, but wanted to get opinions on this. We are probably going to stay 5 or 6 nights (which is why we need the suite) and my kids aren't little, but I have no idea how the transportation works. Ideally, we don't want to be spending 8hrs a day at the parks. We'd like to go back & forth so that it's not go, go, go constantly, and we want some down time.
Please, give me all of your tips, opinions, etc... on all of everything! Lots of recommendations are what I'm after. I can book the trip after Aug. 4th, so I'm looking for options.
Thanks!
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We love Chicago & used to visit often. My mom has friends who live in the city who say the crime areas are spreading, even into the "good" or so-called safe areas and they are selling their homes and moving. It makes me so sad. Sad for the city and the innocent victims, sad for those caught up in the gangs themselves.
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What about VP? If you got the history cards & memory cd's and used their reading recommendations on the backs of the cards. You could also add in some of their literature. I also tentatively vote for Biblioplan. I've been really looking at it too, and like you wish I had it in hand to see more.
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I definitely think I have a winner, then! :party: GSWL seems the best way for us to start, and even better, the least expensive. :hurray: Thanks for talking me through it everyone!
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I was perusing someone's blog, and she previously used R&S English but switched to Grammar Revolution due to ease of teaching and the short lessons. It looks great, but I'm hesitant because there have only been a few posts on it, and none of them are recent.
Here is the site: http://www.english-grammar-revolution.com/daily-diagrams.html (not sure why the link didn't work)
Anyone familiar with it?
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We didn't need to use them. The lessons are self-explanatory. We listened to a few but the kids found them needlessly long.
What are you using now, or what did you use right after GSWL? Did you add anything else to the GSWL lessons? The reason I ask, all of the other curricula seem to have lots of "extras", flashcards, reading books, activity books, etc.. While it's nice to reinforce the lessons, I'm wondering if anything else is necessary?
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I didn't get Latin from looking at samples of those programs either. I went with GSWL, and I'm so glad I did! He explains things very clearly and teaches ONE new thing each lesson, with all the exercises reviewing previously learned items. Now I get Latin. My son is using Lively Latin now, but I really needed that gentle beginning in GSWL to "get it". We used the Kindle edition, so it was only $10.
I looked at more samples of GSWL on Amazon, and it does seem like I could totally handle it. :hurray: So, do you feel it prepared you both enough for LL?
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Have you considered online classes instead? CAP and MP both offer them, and others.
I'd love to do an on-line class, but the cost doesn't make it do-able for us.
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I didn't get Latin from looking at samples of those programs either. I went with GSWL, and I'm so glad I did! He explains things very clearly and teaches ONE new thing each lesson, with all the exercises reviewing previously learned items. Now I get Latin. My son is using Lively Latin now, but I really needed that gentle beginning in GSWL to "get it". We used the Kindle edition, so it was only $10.
A lot of people said this option was the best introduction because of the one concept at a time approach, which I like. But, I really like having the dvd support that the others offer, that's why I'm undecided now. I'm probably between LC w/dvd option and GSWL. I know GSWL offers the mp3 recordings; did you use those and did you feel they were enough?
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We started Latin last year using LC. I purchased the whole curriculum that had the DVD lessons included. They were a life saver! I just popped in each lesson and DD and I watched them together. The rest of the days were a review of that lesson through reciting the songs, prayers, declensions or conjugations, and going through the vocabulary cards each day. I also included one to two Ludere Latinae I puzzles each week, as well as the extra LC review sheet each week.
So, this is how we scheduled things:
- Monday- Watch the DVD lesson and nothing else
- Tuesday-go through our recitations of song, prayer, declensions and/or conjugation & vocabulary cards and do LC Workbook page
- Wednesday-go through all recitations; do LC Review Worksheet page
- Thursday-go through all recitations; do 2 Ludere Latinae I puzzle pages for that lesson
- Friday-quiz
One thing the teachers of LC stress is to go slowly. If DD didn't quite get a declension, conjugation or the vocabulary, we repeated the lesson the next week.
I specifically chose LC for DD as an introduction to Latin. As a 5th grader, she could have gone right into FFL, but I wanted to take a gentle approach. I'm so glad I did because she enjoyed Latin - even though the videos are pretty hokey. Because we did go slowly, repeated several lessons and introduced Visual Latin as a supplement as well, we didn't finish LC last year. However, I did purchase FFL and feel DD has a good enough base to start FFL in the fall. The first part of FFL is a review of LC, and since we could have started with FFL in the first place, I don't feel like it will be a big deal to dive into it in the fall.
Thanks for showing your schedule-that's a big help. It helps me to picture things in a more positive way, that's for sure!
I don't mind us starting out slower, because I want to avoid the frustration factor.
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I would look at and use First Form Latin by Memoria Press instead which has video lessons available as well. I took 4 years of Latin and found First Form Latin to have the best explanations in the text for Latin that I have ever seen. FTR I also have Latin for Children and Latin Alive and still say First Form Latin is the best!
Did you use the video lessons with FFL? Also, I had looked at this but was concerned that it would be our first formal Latin class, and most people had used PL &/or LC first.
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I forgot to add that the bottom of your post is impossible to read to the gigantic font you used.
:lol: :lol: I tried to cut & paste & it didn't look like it had worked-I just saw it now & thought "What in the world??"
Need Disney World hotel help
in The Chat Board
Posted
I went on floridasunvacations.com and I know I can book Windsor Hills there, but only 2 townhomes w/pools showed up in my search. But, when I went directly to the Windsor Hills site and put my criteria in, a bunch came up, and then it has you deal directly with the owners off of their individual sites. Has anyone done that? Because there are quite a few properties that look good, I just was wondering which was the "safer" option?