Spring Break + Cheer Nationals = NEVER AGAIN 3/10-3/19/2011

[draybook]

Ok, unlike most of the TR's done here, this one will not be in sequence, and I will be posting a handful of pictures. We headed down for our daughter's cheer competition at DHS and my wife figured that since we'd be down there, we might as well do a week of Disney/Uni.

Well, it goes back a little further. See, we were supposed to go last September but we had to cancel because my daughter's coaches wouldn't let anyone miss any practices. So, despite losing over $300(half deposit + MNSSHP tickets), we figured we'd get two trips this year.

Anyways, we planned for 6 days of Disney + 2 at Universal so my wife and daughter could soak in the Harry Potter experience. My wife's loves everything Potter. We we down from March 10th until yesterday, the 19th. Things did not happen as planned and we actually left a day early because my daughter got sick. We also skipped the MK on Thursday because of this as well. Oh well, we'll be back in September anyways. The money wasted on tickets and such can be made back, a child's health can't be bought.

Alright, on to the cast:

Me(Dave) - 33 year old shift lead at a medical supply warehouse. I love Disney and I grew up going to DL when I lived in California. I went from 92-08 without going to a park.

Amy - SAHM. Won't let me put her age because she doesn't like it but she's younger than I am so I dunno what the deal is.

Ashley - The cheerleader. Her and Amy love rollercoasters, while me and the son are the chickens.

Justin - My little buddy. We both prefer the tamer rides and he LOVES Stitch. Yeah, Stitch.....

Since Saturday and Sunday would be pretty much half days due to her cheerleading, we decided to make those our half day parks, AK and Epcot. It worked out pretty well and we even had our friends from the team along with us at AK. It was the wife and daughters first time there and the father's first time since he was a kid, so getting to share in that as a Disney vet was awesome!

Monday was MK, Tuesday was DHS, Wednesday was IoA, Thursday was a relaxation day for the daughter being sick and Friday was UHS/IoA. We decided that we are NEVER going back during Spring Break again. Alhtough we used Fastpass to the t and the crowds were somewhat manageable, we're just too spoiled by our normal September trips with little to no waiting.

I also was amazed at the traffic this time. When you take slow drivers and throw in a ton of people who don't read English well or know where they're going, it becomes a huge mess. Not to mention that these days it seems that people forget that turn signals are not optional on cars and they are too lazy or stupid to use them, leading to MANY near accidents. Well, enough of my ramblings(I know, finally), on with some pictures!



WARNING: THERE WILL BE SOME UNIVERSAL STUDIOS / ISLAND OF ADVENTURE PICTURES IN HERE. PLEASE DO NOT GO ANY FURTHER IF THIS WILL BOTHER YOU!!!! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!!!! ALSO, PICTURES MIGHT BE RANDOM, ALTHOUGH THEY WILL BE KEPT APART, IE DISNEY AND UNIVERSAL.

 

[BookTrout]

Your photos are great! You must have a terrific camera. Good start and I'm looking forward to reading more.
Sharon

 

[draybook]

Thanks. I was using my wife's new Nikon D3100 that she got for her birthday. I used mostly the stock 18-55mm lens that came with it. I've got a ton of shots uploaded to Photobucket that I might link, but most of them are not as good as those I posted.

 

[NMW]

Subscribing

 

[MErnst]

Fabulous pics!! Looking forward to hearing and seeing more.

 

[draybook]

I'm just going to link the albums from Photobucket. Some are blurry but it makes it easier for everyone to check them out.


I do want to say that we had a great skipper on Monday night on the JC at MK. It was a guy named Steven or Stephen, didn't see how it was spelled.


We did have a negative experience at IoA Friday night. On our way out of TWWoHP we stopped to grab 3 mugs of Butterbeer so that all 4 of us would have one of our own. We had bought one on Wednesday night with no problem. This time, we get to the 2 girls working the stand and the first one tells us that the frozen drink is $1 more, which wasn't the case on Wednesday night. So we get the regular BB. Then we ask for straws and the 2nd girl says that the straws will float in the unfrozen drinks. Uh yeah, we know that Mrs. Wizard. We didn't ask for your opinion, just give us some straws, which she didn't, as if we were a burden to her.

Of course I'll be calling USO's customer service line about that one because the girls kind of had a bad attitude anyways, as if we were being a burden to them. Other than that, I have to actually admit that Universal had me won over Disney this trip. ET > Peter Pan, and the Shrek show was great. The character interactions were awesome as well, especially Shrek and Donkey.

 

[dizneyrules]

We recently found out that our daughter's cheer squad will be participating in a competition at WDW next April. We have not heard the details on how this works so I would love to hear about your experience.

Did the cheer families book as a group? Were there discounts or a certain package you needed to purchase?

We are going next month and I am thinking about upgrading our current tickets to 10 day non-expiring tickets for next April but not sure if this would work. Thanks for any input you may have.

Ann Marie

 

[draybook]

We recently found out that our daughter's cheer squad will be participating in a competition at WDW next April. We have not heard the details on how this works so I would love to hear about your experience.

Did the cheer families book as a group? Were there discounts or a certain package you needed to purchase?

We are going next month and I am thinking about upgrading our current tickets to 10 day non-expiring tickets for next April but not sure if this would work. Thanks for any input you may have.

Ann Marie

With our cheer gym, we had to pay something like $150 or so for her Disney ticket, which was a 3 day park hopper. We got all of our tickets through the UCA because they were discounted quite nicely. All 3 squads were booked at the same hotel but I believe it's up to each family to actually book the hotel, which you pay for.

I can't find the sign up sheets for UCA but I think it was like $168 for a 3 day park hopper, and if you buy through UCA not only do you get the discount but all their tickets cover any age.

As far as the competition goes, it depends on what level your daughter is at. Ours was on a level 1 team. Level 1 and 2 perform at the Indiana Jones Stunt Show stadium on Saturday and Sunday. I'm pretty sure it ran from around 8am-6 or 7pm.

Level 3 and 4 teams perform at the Wide World of Sports, same days and times vary. My daughter is supposed to be moved up to the level 4 squad this season so that should be interesting.

Different gyms might do it differently, but with ours it was up to each family to provide their own transportation, hotel and tickets, not including the child that was cheering.

It was very fun but next year we're just doing the competition and going home. We much prefer our light September crowds to the Spring Break madness. I hope I answered enough for you, if not let me know and I'll try to provide some good feedback. Thanks!