Category Archives: Florida

Epcot 2015

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Please understand that my plan for Disney  was to spend one day at the Magic Kingdom to photograph decorations and hopefully get some shots I can use for Christmas cards.

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Hidden Mickey

That was it. The rest of the time I planned to check out other venues like botanical gardens that I hadn’t been to before. I am not now and never have been a Mickey fanatic.

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Those plans got side tracked very quickly when I told my friend Joe that I was coming to Orlando in December. I booked the dates in March and that led to a continuous series of emails and phone calls with  everything Joe wanted to do while I was in town. It pretty much revolved around the Disney parks.

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After much suggesting, pleading, assuming and just charging forward, Joe finally convinced me to book the Candlelight Processional with dinner. The two possible narrators while I was in Orlando were Neil Patrick Harris or Whoopie Goldberg . I enjoy both so it came down to when we could get a reservation. Dinner/show spots were all sold out so we settled on lunch/5 pm show. I booked Thursday because, I confess, I was doing this  more to appease Joe than because I wanted to go so I wanted to get it over with.  Thursday was the last night Neil Patrick Harris was the narrator. By having a 1:15 lunch reservation at Les Chefs de France it pretty much guaranteed we’d be spending the day at Epcot.

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Joe met me for breakfast at Kenzie’s and then we headed for the park. Epcot was beautiful as are all of the parks at Christmas. We enjoyed a few rides/shows before scrambling to make our reservation for lunch.

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We had a small two top (that’s restaurant speak for a table for 2) right next to the window so we could watch Father Christmas and other characters pass by. Lunch was acceptable. I’m just a plain and simple person when it comes to food so french cuisine is just “over the top”. Sometimes a grilled cheese should just be a grilled cheese.

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I chose Les Chef de France because I wanted escargot but I’d just had that in New Orleans and it’s not an item I can eat every day. My favorite part was the dessert, puff pastry with vanilla ice cream and chocolate sauce.

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Joe had the mousse.

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Then with several hours to kill we went Soaring. This is a really popular ride and usually has long lines so I had never been on it before.  All I can say is that it’s terrific.  I hated to have it end. I guess it’s as close to flying as you’ll get unless you are one of those glider suit people.

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Kris Kringle was entertaining all comers with a series of Holiday Stories. He was funny even if he looked a bit intimidating.

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We followed up with a visit with Tigger and Poo Bear and then it was time to get in our seats for the main event.

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Love Poo Bear

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And Tigger!

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Oh Oh What Did I Do!?

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Finally I’m here in sunny Orlando…did I say sunny? It’s kind of overcast, about 70 and breezy. Nice day for active stuff but not for beaches and pools. But that’s ok with me. I just have to get one meeting out of the way and I’ll be ready to unwind. Unfortunately I scheduled it for 1:15 in the afternoon, what was I thinking? Now my day is shot. Can’t really go anywhere in the morning and it will be too late by the time I’m done to do much in the afternoon.

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I wandered around the grounds. Mystic Dunes is beautiful and I finally settled on a lounge chair by the pool near my unit. It’s the one with the Tiki Bar. I didn’t realize how tired I was until that moment because I no sooner sat down and my eyes began to close. I had a nice nap in spite of the kids shrieking as they slid down the pool slide under the waterfall. Kids don’t care if its overcast. They’ll swim anyway and turn blue.

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Just before noon the activity director arrived. DJ, party director, it was time to get the show rolling. The music came on and raffle tickets were being handed out. The quiet time was at an end so I made my escape for lunch.

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Since I hadn’t had time to explore the area outside the resort yet I settled on lunch at Kenzie’s, the clubhouse restaurant. The breakfast I had there wasn’t bad, the french toast was a little under cooked but the bacon was perfect. I played it safe with a hamburger for lunch. It was quite good if a little pricey. Typical for a resort. The service was good and the waitress friendly.

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Then it was time to go to the meeting. My plan was to go to this meeting update on my time share with “no” firmly on the tip of my tongue. These meetings are very informational and I always learn something but they also have to try to sell you points. Its a way to keep the business healthy. I understand that only too well from my days as a business owner.

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My 90 minutes passed pleasantly and quickly and it was time to wrap up. My sales person was putting together numbers for me to take away and think about. It would freeze any increase on my account for 18 months which is a good thing. But when she tried to put it through she found there was a previous freeze that had not been released. Her price $8.49/point. My old freeze $3.13 / point. Oh Oh! If I sign off today I will loose the $3.13 price. It wasn’t a last ditch sales ploy, I remembered when they froze it the last time. I really hadn’t wanted to upgrade right now, another year or two would be better for my plans but to do that would cost me $5.36/ point more when I was ready to upgrade and that’s a lot of money.

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What’s a committed timeshare owner to do? Taking a deep breath I agreed to sign on the dotted line.  I now have enough points to be a trial Gold member. That opens up tons of new options and gives me time to save for the full gold membership which I really want to reach.

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My workmates will be happy because that little financial decision just committed me to at least 5 more years of full time work. It is a real estate transaction complete with closing fees so it was after 4 pm before all the paperwork was done, the mortgage in place and I was ready to go back to my villa and have a breakdown. I was both excited and nervous. This had not been my plan but it made the most financial sense and they gave me a trip to Maui, HI and 2 round trip airfares to make me feel a little better. I can live with that.

What are you doing for next year?

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Between work and trying to bring you all up to date on the Florida trip I’ve been preparing my annual Christmas Cards. All of my cards are hand made and I use my original photos. Each year I try to top the card I used from the previous year.

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Last night we had our Team Celebration and I handed out the cards for the team members. I was thrilled that they were a hit. I can’t share it here yet as I haven’t mailed all of the others. I’ll share on Christmas Day 🙂

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Anyway they wanted to know what I would do for next year.

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Part of the reason for a Florida trip this December was to check out the decorations at Disney. I got lots of pics. These are just a sample of the contenders that I shot my first day in Florida before I even got to the Disney Parks.

Mystic Dunes

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Mystic Dunes turned out to be on the south side of Disney so several exits beyond my old friends at Cypress Point. Entering the grounds you have to go through a check point. As many places as I’ve stayed as a Diamond Resort Owner, I’ve never been in a gated community before. I wasn’t sure if this was going to be a  good addition or a nuisance but the guard was very warm and friendly and gave me directions to the Welcome Center.

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Easily one of the largest properties I’ve visited, Mystic Dunes is located on a “hill” I use the term loosely as I don’t think Florida has hills. Ok so it’s located on one of the highest elevations in the area and is over 600 acres. The grounds include a golf course, tropical landscaping, a nature preserve , 4 swimming pools, a clubhouse and restaurant.

View from my window

View from my window

Diamond Resorts pride themselves on their friendly manner and over the years as the brand has developed I’ve watched this welcoming attitude grow  but it was never more apparent than at Mystic Dunes.

When I walked into the Welcome Center I felt like Norm from Cheers where everybody knows your name. Well, they might not have known my name but they all said “Welcome Home” with wide smiles. The atmosphere was very warm and friendly! Check in was at 4 pm and  I was early, yet they did not bat an eye. They issued my room key and handed over parking permits for me and for a guest.

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My unit was a small single with the usual kitchen, washer & dryer, living room and bedroom. My voice echo’d because the only furnishings in the living room was the TV , a sofa bed and the coffee table.

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When I mentioned my observation I was told it was because Diamond had only recently taken over the property and they were upgrading to bring all the units in line with their standards.

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I was in a standard single, not the deluxe so they had not gotten to my unit level yet. Even so it was a perfectly nice unit and certainly suitable for my needs.

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I got myself settled in and went about exploring the grounds.

 

Off I Go Again!

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Mystic Dunes. Sounds kind of like a Fantasy novel doesn’t it? I’m about to find out if it lives up to its name.

There are many perks to owning a time share but one that always comes as a surprise to me are the free trips. Well, not entirely free. They require you to listen to a sales pitch for 90 minutes. At my last “update” I decided it was time to upgrade my membership. Changes were coming and it was likely that I would not see these deals again and I do love my time share. As a thank you for upgrading they gave me a “Dream Vacation” to Las Vegas (including round trip air fare for 2)and a trial trip of 3 days and 2 nights at Mystic Dunes in Celebration, FL. I also had a ton of points (think time share currency) that I would lose if not used by December 31 so I found myself back in the air heading to Orlando a mere month after my vacation to New Orleans.

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To fly down, come back home, and fly back again didn’t make any sense so I negotiated an extra night at Mystic Dunes and rented 2 more nights (for about the same cost as that extra airfare would have been),  making my planned stay Dec 1-December 6. Then I planned to hop a commuter flight from Orlando to Miami for another week in South Beach Dec 6 – Dec.13. I should be good and relaxed when I get back to work.

I flew Southwest from Providence to Orlando where I made a spur of the moment decision to upgrade my Enterprise rental car from economy to what ever they had on the lot with a GPS. What they had was a Lincoln Navigator. Talk about a top of the line upgrade. I wasn’t sure if I was going to faint from shock or laughter. This huge behemoth of an SUV just for me! It had automatic running boards  that popped out when you opened the door and a good thing too or I would have needed a step ladder just to get into it.

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The salesman helped me load my luggage in back and set the GPS for Mystic Dunes before sending me on my way.

Now remember, no trip is without its pitfalls. If you keep that in mind you will be able to handle the little trials that come out of no where.

I had just left the airport and was trying to pull onto RT 528 when I realized I couldn’t adjust the side mirror. It was folded in on itself. Trying to navigate Florida traffic without a passenger side mirror is suicide but pulling onto the shoulder to make the adjustment was even worse so I drove very cautiously waiting for an exit.

Before I could find one an alarm went off on my dash board. The rear hatch wasn’t closed. Apparently the salesman hadn’t pulled it shut when he loaded my luggage. I had visions of my bags falling out and bursting open all along the highway.

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By now I was on RT 4 and exits were starting to show up. I pulled off at an exit for a Comfort Inn. Using their parking lot I first closed the rear hatch, breathing a sigh of relief that both bags were still there, then released the side mirror and adjusted it.

Getting back on the highway was a little tricky but once there I settled in for a GPS directed drive to Mystic Dunes. But such was not to be. I’d barely gone 2 exits when another alarm went off on the dash. This one said low tire pressure. Give me a break! The car didn’t have 5000 miles on it. The next exit was my old faithful. The exit to the resort I usually stay at, Cypress Point so I pulled off knowing there was a gas station.

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Before I did anything I looked the tires over. They looked fine to me. Big tires! Then I tried calling Enterprise roadside assistance who told me to fine a tire store and have them fix it. The “helpful” woman gave me an address for a Tire store but someone did not have up to date info. There wasn’t one there. After driving around for 2 hours  (on the allegedly flat tire) I found a Walmart where they helped me out in the tire center. The right front tire was “soft”. They topped off the air and sent me on my way once more.

As it was now approaching 2 pm and I had yet to even have breakfast I decided Mystic Dunes could wait a little while so I could enjoy some lunch. There was a Golden Corral right down the street so that was were I headed.