Yep, Ivy's home for the summer...

That can actually be pronounced TWO ways...

Well folks the Big Sandy Bottom World Tour 2007 has officially ended :(

It's taken me so long to finish this report that I've managed to fit in a trip to Disneyland in the interim.

I'm happy to report that other than the first 36 hours of the trip, all went quite well.

The Cast

Eric: As usual, Eric played the role of Saint and all around good guy. Official motto: Whatever you guys want to do.
Siobhan: Meal organizer, extremely inept "clubber". Official motto: We must use every last dining plan credit.

Grammie: Ambassador to the tourists of the world. Feeder o f small animals. Official motto: I currently live in Las Vegas, but I hate it.

Ivy: Token OCD traveler. Official motto: Perhaps I've outgrown traveling with my family.
Olivia: Rave lovin' teen. Motto: Jarjarjarjar. Snark Snark Snark.

Riley: Quietly mischievous friend. Official motto: Can't I just have some chicken nuggets? Alternate official motto: I know a good "Canada" joke.

The Good:

Our room at Disney's Saratoga Springs.

We rented points from a Disney Vacation Club member, which made me a little nervous...you have to put total trust in the DVC member. Disney doesn't allow someone renting points to even call the resort and confirm a reservation. So basically you send a bunch of money to someone you don't know and hope for the best. In our case it worked perfectly. As for the room, we had a two bedroom villa in the "Congress Park" section of the resort. The room was really nice, and a great size. There was a "master" bedroom, with a king size bed, jacuzzi tub and separate shower. The living room was a decent size, with a balcony. There was a full kitchen and a washer and dryer. There was a queen size sofa bed, which my mom slept on. The second bedroom had two queen size beds and another bathroom with a separate vanity area. This was the area we called the children's wing. Since we were in Disneyworld, the obvious parallel was the nursery in "Peter Pan." It was great, because there was a door between the children's wing and the rest of the place and you literally couldn't hear anything from there when that door was shut. (not even a rave. Yes, one night a very brief rave was held in the children's wing. It lasted about 40 seconds and came complete with pulsing lights, music, glowing drink cubes and one extremely pissed off Ivy, who I fear much like Wendy in "Peter Pan" has grown too old to sleep in the nursery.)

Our room location was good-pretty close to the bus stop and a pool that overlooked Downtown Disney. There was a walkway to Downtown Disney, so we were able to walk there in about 10 minutes.

The Company
This was a good travel group. Everyone was in a decent mood for most of the trip. Having Riley along helped with the sibling bickering. My mom made at least 101 friends. (We know this because two days in we started keeping count of every conversation she had with a stranger.) I did a fairly good job of keeping my obsessive vacation planning in check. (Don't worry though-we had plenty of obsessive behavior anyway, due to Ivy deciding to visit every single attraction in every single park, clutching a map and pen and marking everything off one by one.)

At the end of the trip, Ivy and my mom got a little snippy with each other and my mom almost paid $400 to upgrade to first class on the plane trip home just to avoid Ivy. Luckily,cooler heads prevailed and the two of them kissed and made up.

The Disney Dining Plan.
I'm not sure that we "saved" any money by using the Disney Dining Plan, but I do believe we at least broke even. We would've definitely come out ahead, except for the fact that Riley eats about 8 teaspoons of food a day. At the end of day 3, the poor kid swore she was never going to eat out again. It's possible that she ate more food on this trip than she has consumed the entire rest of her life.

The best part of the Dining Plan was not having to dole out money to folks. Since the DDP works in "credits" rather than $$$, all you needed was your room key. You ordered your food, presented your room key and the "meal credit" was deducted from our account. 8 days= 8 counter service meals, 8 table service meals and 8 snacks per person. Our park tickets were linked to the room keys also, so as long as you had your room key you could go to a park, eat and of course, get back into the room :)

Being on the DDP meant that we ate lavishly without worrying about money. When we ate at the California Grill in the Contempory Resort Hotel, our bill would've been over $500. A more typical dinner was probably between 250-300 dollars. Would we have ordered as much food if we were paying cash out of pocket? Probably not, but it sure was nice ordering whatever you wanted regardless of the cost. Add in the "counter service" meals and snacks and I figure the Disney Dining Plan was a good deal for us.

The Bad:

Florida weather.
Way too hot and humid. How people live in that place is beyond me.

The crowds.

I will never visit Disneyworld in the summer again.

The Ugly:

Coronado Springs Resort.

In order to save some $$$ on our lodging, I booked two rooms at the Coronado Springs Resort for our first night. Since we weren't going to arrive until around 7:00 p.m. , I thought it made sense to book cheaper digs that night and then move to Saratoga Springs the next day. I was wrong. While the resort grounds were pretty, the furniture wasn't. The rooms were about what you'd expect from a bargain motel. The food court offerings were mediocre and very expensive.

There was a convention of deaf families staying there, so that was kind of cool. Kind of quiet, too. haha.

I wouldn't recommend this place. I think it probably cost about $50 less to stay there than at Saratoga Springs. Given the hassle and amount of time it took to move the next day, it was definitely not worth it.

Transportation
We spent way too much time on transportation, and I'm not including my customary, first day transportation around the world field trip. The transportation at Saratoga Springs was lacking. There weren't enough busses, particularly in the evenings coming back to the resort. I don't think it's unreasonable to hope that Disney would throw a few extra busses into the schedule when a park closes. Waiting 20 minutes for a bus wasn't bad at the beginning of the day. At midnight it was really a pain and it totally sucked to have to stand on most of the trips.

The trip from Coronado Springs to Saratoga Springs.
Really mean bus driver+person who doesn't know which bus stop leads to the registration desk+someone who has to pee+someone who keeps trying to take a photo of someone who has to pee=90 minutes of hell.

A Heart-shaped blister

Eric purchased a pair of sandals before we left that were approximately 4 sizes too small for him. He stoically limped around for two days before finally revealing some of the most hideous blisters I have ever seen in my life. Although the heart-shaped one was kind of cool. Eric spent the last few days of the trip wearing black Mickey Mouse crocs and exclaiming "Oh my god, my feet feel so good!"

Official Big Sandy Bottom 2007 World Tour Quiz

How many friends did my mom make in Disneyworld?
1. 10
2. 26

3. At least 101

What item caused Olivia to bolt in terror from a monorail car?
1. Used condom
2. Dirty diaper
3. A banana

True/False:
Light up drink cubes are a good idea.

Essay question: How many correct pronounciations are there of the French word "ratatouille?" Do you think it matters?