Epcot 2015

When most people visit Disney, they rise at the crack of dawn, try to arrive at rope drop, and then hit the park all day, leaving exhausted at park close.

But not us.

We are on an extended stay. With five weeks, there is no need to rush it. We slept late, played games, enjoyed the villa, and then headed to Epcot around 5pm.

With only four hours we didn't have a lot of time. But we did Spaceship Earth, pavilions, Nemo, and more.

Linda used to be a quite wall flower. Not any more! She yelled at me in the park for not knowing where the next pavilion was located. In her defense, I really wasn't listening to her the first two times she asked me. And was only half paying attention the third time.

In my defense, I am not, nor do I look like, nor am I dressed like a Disney employee. How to heck would I know where the pavilions are located?

When we left we noticed this piece of military equipment in the parking lot. It looks like someone converted it into a camper. A Nuclear Blast proof camper. I was blown away to find something like this sitting in a Disney parking lot!

Overall, we had a great (yet short) visit to Epcot.

Our Home For The Summer

Here is our Pool House Villa for the 2015 Summer Vacation

Magic Kingdom 2015

We start and end every trip to Disney by visiting the Magic Kingdom.

A large storm moved into the area and it rained most of the afternoon. Rather than fight the storms, we decided to enjoy our villa and hit the park around dinner time. Doing so would give us six hours in the park, which is a nice visit when having an extended stay.

We were surprised by how much construction is happening at the Magic Kingdom. 

They have been expanding the viewing area for the fireworks, but now it appears the construction is moving down main street. The expanded viewing areas are now open. Some of the area includes grass areas (artificial turf) for sitting and watching the show. The sitting areas are reserved by fast pass.

We noticed a problem with the Fast Pass system. In the picture below, you can see the twenty minute long line for the fast pass to Jungle Cruise. The stand-by line was 50 minutes, so, the fast pass line was faster. However, waiting twenty minutes in the fast pass line is unusual. This tells me they are providing more fast passes than the ride can handle.

Pirates of the Caribbean was closed, which was disappointing because it is one of our favorite rides.

We watched the fireworks at our new favorite location: at the tables by the ice cream station. We don't get to see the castle, we can only see the fireworks that fire behind the castle, and we get rained on by ash, but we get a chair, get to relax, and don't have to stand in a crowd.

Six hours was perfect. We left the park exhausted.

Don't take bugs home with you

I have previously explained how to avoid attracting bugs in a vacation villa ( http://relocatingtodisney.blogspot.com/2015/05/bug-free-in-villa.html?m=1 ).  Here are some tips that will help assure you don't take any Florida bugs (like cockroaches) home with you:

1. Do not set your belongings on the floor. You don't want a bug crawling onboard. Put beloginings on chairs, tables, or dressers.

2. We seal all our clothes in space bags to make sure nothing climbs into our clothes.

3. Put all opened pantry food into large ziplock bags.

4. If the beds have dust ruffles, bugs can crawl up them and join you in bed. Tuck the dust ruffles under the bed matress so the dust ruffle isn't touching the floor.

Driving to Disney: PA to SC

Today we drove from Pennsylvania to South Carolina.

We stopped in Lumberton North Carolina to revisit the hotel made famous during our 2009 trip.

Next, we stopped at South of the Border for some souvenirs.

We ate dinner at a Cracker Barrel

Then pulled off in Santee, South Carolina.

The trip was fairly uneventful. It rained all day. There were slow moving cars in the left lane, but not as many as I have seen other years. We didn't need any restroom stops (except as meal time) so we made good time.

We ate at a great Cracker Barrel but had a horrible waitess. I have written about the importance of leaving a good tip. But I left no tip for this. Someone else had to bring our food out. I couldn't get a drink refill. Pancakes with no surypt, I had to ask 3 times and it finally arrived when pancakes were cold. We asked for more napkins three times and never got it. Silverware was dirty. Biscuits arrived at the end of our dinner and I had to ask for corn muffins, and neither came with butter. Our bill was delivered and we weren't asked if we wanted desert. I had to walk across the restaurant and stop someone so I could get a to-go container.

Aside from a bad waitess, we had a pretty good day.

Exercising while at Disney

There are many dietary temptations while on vacation, especially a Disney vacation. It can be very difficult to stay on track. And hay - it is a vacation, you deserve that second piece of chocolate cake! I often come home from a vacation weighing several pounds more than when I left.

I talked to one person last year who felt it was easy to maintain weight and fitness goals at Disney. He believed that all the walking plus the heat burned so many calories that it didn't matter what someone consumed. In my experience? That simply isn't true.

I have found several things that help me when I'm on a Disney vacation.

1. Eat a salad at least once per day. It is hot, I don't feel like eating much anyways, and a salad can be very refreshing.  Sometimes it is difficult to select a salad when there are so many other options. Regardless, I adopt this as a rule.

2. Don't over do it in the heat. Florida in the summer isn't the time for anyone to try to prove how physically fit they are. Drink plenty of water and take many breaks. If you have any questions, talk to your doctor.

3. Walk or run. In 2014, I woke up early every day and went for a 5 mile jog. I was surprised how hard it was to jog in Florida's heat and humidity. My times and performance in Florida were way off my training and I often struggled just to breath. There were many times I just walked part of the trail. I would always return drenched in sweat and wringing out my shirt. Therefore, I always took a bottle of gator aid with me to help with hydration, and re-hydrated when I returned.

You can see my Florida Neighborhood jogging path through Indian Creek here. If you are staying on property, ask the front desk about jogging paths. You can simply walk or jog around the resort, or, they may have suggestions that could provide views normally missed.

4. Weights and Bands. If you are flying, you don't want to take weights to Disney as your luggage is weighed and you might have to pay extra. I drive, so, it is easy for me to toss a 25 or 35 pound dumbbell into the back of the van. It really doesn't take much room. I also take some rubber resistance bands, which are light and easy to pack.

5. Taking the weights and bands is one thing. Staying motivated to use them? Is something else
entirely. I would return from a jog every morning and all I wanted was a shower. I wouldn't let myself shower until after I completed some resistance training.

6. Showering after a work out. Florida is hot in the summer and if you go for a walk or a run, your body temperature will rise significantly. This has to be accounted for when taking a post-work out shower. Too hot of a shower can fatigue your body and prevent it from cooling, causing you to continue sweating for an hour after the shower. Too cold of a shower can throw your body into shock. I recommend starting with a luke-warm shower and then slowly lowering the temperature to help cool off your body and return it to normal.

Those are my tips for maintaining your diet and fitness goals while visiting Disney.

Driving to Disney: Race Car McDonalds

While traveling south on interstate 180, you will come to the Lycoming mall exit in Muncy PA at exit 17. This is easy to see because there is a giant metal arch that cars drive under as they enter the mall. At the base of that arch is what we have come to know as The Race Car McDonalds.

It is actually the Bill Eliot NASCAR Museum. And since he drove the McDonalds car, what better place to have a museum than in a McDonalds?

This is a normal McDonalds in every aspect except it is decorated from ceiling to the tile floor in a race car theme.

There is even a real race car sitting in the lobby, and another hanging from the ceiling!

It can be a little tricky getting in and out of this McDonalds. When leaving, we have to take a right (away from 180) to a round about, and then head back to the 180 ramp.

This McDonalds has become one of our favorite stops when we travel south.

Packing for Disney

There are two ways to pack for Disney: my way and my wife's way,

My way is like eating an elephant: one bite at a time. I begin packing ten days before we leave. I spend a few minutes every day gathering what I need until I have everything packed and waiting at the door.

My wife's approach is like eating an elephant in one gulp. She stays up all night in a marathon attempt to pack everything in one shot.

Somehow these two approaches merge on the last day and the challenge turns to stuffing everything we just packed into a mini-van.

This is no small task! Boxes, totes, bags suite cases and everything necessary to substain a family of four for five weeks.

Overpacking is our motto, so, it is more like packing for five months. For example, we have a house with a washer and dryer, so, why am I bringing 45 shirts? For a 35 day trip?

Somehow it all fits with just enough room left for humans.

Taking My Office To Disney

I will be in the Disney area for five weeks. I am renting a house and converting one of the bedrooms into an office. I will work from the office  while the rest of the family enjoy Disney, or the house's pool, or the area. After work and during weekends, I'll join them. This gives me the best simulated experience for what it would be like to live at Disney: needing to work all day, deal with the garbage, the pool guy, the exterminator, pay bills, grocery shop, make dinner, etc.

To make that happen, I need to box up my home office (well... most of my home office) and take it with me. I'll leave behind several monitors and the printer, but take everything else. I even take a folding table that I purchased specifically for working in Florida.

Taking my home office requires careful packing to make sure nothing gets damaged during the trip. I have to tare down my setup which includes disassembling the computer monitors. I will have to reassemble everything when I arrive.

Experience has told me to not trust the Villa wireless. The wireless signals are often too weak by the time they get into the front bedroom that I use. Therefore, I take very long ethernet cords that I can run from the home office to the wireless access point and plug in, providing a wired connection.

If the house internet proves to be a problem, I have a backup: my cell phone can be used as a hotspot. The performance of a cell phone based hotspot is horrible in comparison to cable broadband, but in a pinch - it keeps me working.

I have had some great experiences working from Disney. I expect the same to be true for this trip as well. 

Disney 2015: Heading to Florida in 2 days

In less than 40 hours we will board the van and head to Florida! Now, the panick sets in. It is overwhelming to consider everything that still needs to be done at the house plus everything we need to pack in addition to finishing up projects at work.We have house sitters, so, we don't have to worry too much about the house. And we aren't leaving civilization - we can buy anything we forget to pack. Regardless, there is a lot to do!

Of the many duties on my list, I have to vacuum out the van. That's done! I have all the travel material from AAA. I have the van's dashcam ready to go. The directions are programmed into the GPS. Extra bags of dog food. Haircuts are done. All prescriptions are filled. Everything I need is packed and by the door. I have repaired the boy's shoes and packed most of the electronics and cables.

My wife has the hardest tasks: making sure everything we need is not forgotten, and packing all the clothes for herself and the boys. Usually we pack each person a huge bag full of clothes, and then only use several items because we keep the wash caught up at the villa we are renting. Overpacking is our motto!

Hopefully we can get through the large list of remaining tasks without needing to stay awake for the next two nights.

Disney 2015 Van Repair Part 2

We got the van back today. They found they didn't reconnect the breaks properly, so, they fixed that for us. Good thing because I might want the van to stop when I reach Florida.

The main reason for taking the van to the mechanic was due to a high pitch whistle heard around 55mph. The mechanic couldn't hear it, therefore, he couldn't fix it.

After we picked up the van, we decided to drive it around to see if we could still hear the noise. We drove it for about an hour and the faint noice came and went, usually between 55mph and 60mph. The longer we drove, the louder the noise became. If we pressed the accelerator, we would sometimes hear the noise. As soon as we took our foot off the accelerator, the noise stopped.

The noise is faint, but high pitched. And after listening to it for several hours, I'm sure I'll have a splitting headache. But I'm not sure how I will be able to explain this sound to the mechanic. And I'm sure he isn't going to be interesting in driving the van for an hour so the intermittent sound can get loud enough that he might be able to hear it.

I'm afraid the van might have to go to Florida with this noise.

Disney 2015: Van Repair

Over the weekend, we took the van to the shop for maintenance before leaving for Florida. We have them check everything.., except the windshield wipers. We have learned the hard way to get new wipers before every trip, but not with the mechanic. My wife goes to Napa and plays the dumb woman role to get the Napa salesman to install the new wipers on the van for her.

The mechanic looked at the van and found a long list of problems totaling $1500. I talked him down to just the essentials - $650. Breaks, a transmission hose, a recall, oil change, rotate tires, software update, etc. While doing his work he broke a valve stem pressure sensor, so, the final bill was $750. Cars are expensive!!

Two days after the repair we now have a high pitched squeal coming from the engine when we press the gas. We didn't have that before! We leave for Florida in four days! This evening we dropped the van back off at the mechanic. I hope he can fix it quick!

From Western New York to Disney

Here is the route we take from Western New York State to Disney. It starts by getting to Corning NY. Then:

15 to 180 to 15 to 81 at Harrisburg PA 

From 81, we cut over to 95 in a way that avoids Washington DC, so we go 66 to 17 to 95.

We take 95 all the way to Florida, then I4 to Kissimee where our Villa is.

If you take this route? Do me a favor: slower traffic stay to the right! Let faster traffic pass you in the left lane. If there is no car immediately in front of you, but a line of cars immediately behind you? You are the slow car! Get out of the way!! Every trip becomes more and more dangerous as cars get bunched up in the left lane due to a slower moving car.

Vacation Villa Check Out

The following is a great checkout list to use when leaving your Villa at the end of the rental. Of course, check your rental agreement for additional or different requirements.

Remove the dirty bed linens and put them next to the washer

Make sure all pots, pans, and dishes are washed and put away

Take the garbage out of the house

Clean any used baby items and return them to where you found them

Make sure all electrical item, including lights, coffee maker, fans, Etc are turned off

If you used the BBQ grill - clean it

Lock all doors and windows, including the garage door if you had opened it

If the villa has a pool, do not leave anything in the pool

Wipe down all counters and tables

Run the vacuum

For any decorations you might have moved, return them to their original location 

If you moved any furniture, return it to its original location

Clean out the refrigerator and freezer, leaving it empty. 

Perform your inspection for damage, taking pictures as necessary

Return the house key

Many villas are fairly strict about their security deposits. If they have to pay their cleaning lady extra, they will charge it to your security deposit. Protect yourself by leaving the villa in at least as good of condition as when you arrived.

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Traveling to Disney with Autism

When people think of Autism, they probably think of Dustin Huffman's rememberable portrayal in Rainman. I have two boys with autism - one very mild and the other very very mild. They are so mild that if you met them you might not even know they had it. But they do. And traveling with autism presents some unique challenges.

One of my sons has eaten the same flavor of store brand oatmeal since the age of one. He will not eat any other kind of oatmeal nor anything else for breakfast. And the day isn't right without breakfast! We are going to Florida for five weeks, so, can you imagine what that means? We have to bring along 120 packages of this oatmeal with us!

He also enjoys Knorr's chicken flavored rice. I don't know if I can get that in Florida, so, we are packing fifteen packages of chicken rice. The boys will only eat a certain kind of chocolate pudding, a certain kind of chocolate chip cookies, etc. And God forbid if the corn chips are in circles instead of triangles! We basically have to pack five weeks of groceries for them.

The real fun starts when we enter Disney World. Luckily, they will eat hamburgers and french fries (so long as the French fries do not have black specs of pepper on them). They will also eat pizza... sometimes. We often don't know until we buy it. The pizza has to pass the look test, the smell test, the crunch test, and finally the taste test.

Many parents (who are not parents of children with autism) suggest curing this by letting the child starve. What they do not understand is that our children are perfectly happy starving. Eating is not a major consideration in their life when there is so many other things to be occupied with. Chocking down food that has a bad texture or smell isn't even a consideration for them. As parents, it is up to us to make sure they stay nurished.

I remember having a reservation in Epcot's Mexico, and I had to run all the way to the Electric Umbrella to order hamburgers and fries so the boys could eat with us. Or the time we went to Ohana for dinner and the chef brought out two giant platters stacked high with burgers and fries - the boys were in heaven!

Food is just one challenge for children with autism. Another challenge is to avoid unexpected changes to the schedule. They need to know the park's ride schedule and understand it, and then we need to avoid disturbing it. For example, if the Haunted House follows Pirates of the Carribean, we had better not stop off at the Hall of Presidents in between! The boys are generally pretty good. They just don't like the schedule changes and become stressed or unhappy and sometime mad. They don't blow up or have a melt down. But they will let you know (and anyone in ear shot) they they are displeased with the change.

Another aspect that some with Autism have is compulsiveness. This manifests itself as: if I have a bottle of water in my hand, it is there because I need to drink it.  Drink all of it. And once I drink it, I must put the empty bottle into my back pack. Oh look! There is more water in my backpack. It is there so I can drink it. So, I will get another.... It is very common for us to pack half a dozen water bottles for the family in my oldest son's  backpack and half the way through the day, he is empty leaving the rest of us wondering what we are going to drink. With all that drinking comes the continual runs to the restroom. I understand it is hot, and I am glad he is staying hydrated, but really?

We take all these items with a sense of humor, and the boys are good at laughing at the situations. As parents, we can either be frustrated or we can find enjoyment. We decide to have a good time with it. We understand the challenges but we don't let the challenges get in the way of having a great vacation.

Notify Credit Cards about travel

Credit cards today have fraud detection. If the notice purchases that are outside of your normal purchase habits, they may evoke fraud protection and disable your credit card. A disabled credit card could really ruin a vacation!

Avoiding fraud protection from locking your your credit card is easy. Simply call the number on the back of your credit card and notify them of your travel dates. Many credit cards have an automated system for handling these notifications where you can use your telephone to enter the travel dates.

Before you head out the door? Remember to notify your credit card company!

Splendid China

Everyday as we drive to our Florida pool house we pass by an abandoned property surrounded by a white wall. The area is perhaps a mile or two up the road from our house. The white walls have strange oriental symbols, heavy overgrowth, and as we drove around the outside it was impossible to tell what lie within. We thought maybe it was a mansion or an old country club left abandoned.

I did some Google research to find out what lay beyond that wall. You'll never guess what I found. Splendid China! 



Splendid China was located on 75 acres as part of a 315 acre partial at the corner of Funnie Steed Road and Famousa Gardens near Buck Lake. The entire land stretched from Funnie to the west end of Rt. 192 (Bronson Memorial Highway). 

Splendid China was an amusement park that opened outside of Disney in the 90's. It was only ten or fifteen minutes from where Animal Kingdom is today. It had a China focus, entertainers from China, and many of the important icons of China presented in a smaller scale. It took $100M to build the attraction between 1989 and 1993. 

The park had miniatures replicas of sites in China. For example, the Great Wall of China stretch for half a mile, and a replica of the Leshan Buddha was four stories tall. 

Even though the park of a large success for vacationers, the park attracted repeated protests from human rights groups because it was owned by China. That ownership gave protesters an opportunity to send a message to a China owned entity about freeing tibet and human rights.

After September 11, the travel industry took a hard hit, and Splendid China couldn't keep their park open. They closed in 2003, 14 years after ground breaking. 

Today? The park has been vandalized, many items stolen, and it is heavily overgrown. In 2013, new owners started taring down the park to prevent continued vandalization. Encore Development plans to develop the land as a $700 million mixed-use residential resort that will include, among many things, a 3-D movie complex.

Can you trust Villa reviews?

Can you trust the villa reviews? Generally speaking.... no.  Too many reviews are written by the owner, their family, or the management company. In addition, many sites allow owners to remove reviews they don't like. If someone leaves a critical review, it might be removed (in fact, I have had several of my reviews removed).

No vacation villa (which includes pool houses, condos, apartments, etc) is perfect. There is always something worth mentioning that is wrong. So my rule is this: don't trust the review if it says everything was perfect. Also, a review that only tells about the good is not helpful because I am looking at the reviews to see what is wrong with the place. Finally, I look for things in the review that a normal renter would know, (like age of the mattresses) because that is a sign that the review was written by the owner. I watch for reviews were the guest is defending the owners or discrediting another guest's review. Finally, if there are multiple reviews, I look for phrases repeated in the reviews, like, "very spacious and comfortable", because that tells me the reviews were probably written by the same person.

If an owner develops a bad reputation, they can create a new listing with their property that has no reviews, and start rebuilding their review pool. Therefore, if similar villas in the area have ten or more, but your villa has none or one? Be suspicious.

Lets critique several reviews:

"We loved this place it has everything you need and its just minutes away to all the attractions, the property looks a lot better in person we are definitely coming back and highly recommend it!!!!!" Rating: Poor

"I can't believe some of the other reviews I've read. My family, friends, and I stayed at this rental home this past weekend, and it was wonderful. We didn't have any issues at all. we have nothing but compliments about the property." Guests usually don't defend the owners.

"This condo was the perfect accommodation for our Disney vacation. It was very spacious. The four rooms allowed two families of six plenty of space to be comfortable. Having a full kitchen and a washer and dryer available at our disposal was a huge convenience. The location was ideal for visiting all four Disney parks as well as other nearby theme parks. The place was well kept with all new furniture, bedding, and towels. The owners were wonderful to work with, very helpful and pleasant. I would highly recommend this condo for your vacation stay." How would a guest know that everything is new?

"We stayed here for two weeks and will definitely be back. This condo had everything we needed. New big screen TV with cable, new front load washer and dryer, and all new furniture. The place was immaculate. The kitchen was completely stocked with all the appliances we needed and even a new dishwasher." Owners would know these items were new. Guests wouldn't.

Lightning, Electronics, and your Villa Rental

It was 3am and a thunder rumble near our upstate New York house woke us out of our deep slumber. We know what to do, we know the routine. We quickly hand out assignments and get to work - everyone running around the house to unplug our electronics so they won't be effected from an electrical surge caused by a nearby lightening strike. Microwave, TVs computers, and more. If we can reach the power outlet? It gets unplugged.

Florida is the lightning capital of the world, yet, when we are in Florida we don't unplug electronics. There is a thunderstorm almost every afternoon in the summer. The villa instructions for thunderstorms is to simply avoid using electronics during a storm. What is the difference? Why is Florida better at lightning protection than my New York house?

You shouldn't be responsible if a lightning strike damages something in the villa. You should be concerned, however, for the electronics you brought with you. Perhaps you are recharging an iphone, have kid's games, or brought a laptop. Those could all be victims to a thunderstorm.

If you are renting a villa, you should ask the owner or management company whether the villa is equipped with whole house surge protection. Whole house surge protection is installed above the electrical box at the service entrance. While it won't protect against a direct lightning strike (that is unlikely) it will protect against a surge from a nearby strike (much more likely).

Even with a whole house surge protection, some dirty electricity could get into the house. That is where  surge protectors plugged into electrical outlets are useful. These are not the cheap power strips, but are the $20-$50 surge suppression power strips. You can either bring a power strip with you, buy one when you arrive, or ask if they are available within the Villa.

The combination of a whole house surge protection system and surge protection at the outlet will not help during a direct lightning strike, and will not protect under every situation, but it is some of the best protection for offering peace of mind at your Florida vacation villa. Of course, nothing will ever be as sure as unplugging a device, but surge protection is a good option.

2015 Magic Bands

Our 2015 Magic Bands arrived!!!

The 2014 magic bands are well used - around 40 days of park use. We probably could have used them this summer too, but new ones are free.