Last night, we took a bus to Honolulu’s Chinatown. Nick and I met while we were both living in China for a summer, so going to Chinatown always brings us back! (Wow – was that really 12 years ago?) In our true overly-adventurous form, we even successfully navigated the public bus system to get there and back!
On our recent trip to Orlando, we spent two nights at the Embassy Suites Orlando Airport.
This hotel’s convenience can not be beat – we got our luggage, called the hotel, and they sent the shuttle right over. Within 15 minutes, we were at the hotel checking in. The hotel was very nice and all you expect from a typical Embassy Suites: a huge lobby and gorgeous atrium with a fountain. It was located only 6 miles from the airport and is surrounded by several great restaurants, all within walking distance.
Our room was perfect for our family of five: two queen beds, a crib for the baby and a sofa bed. There was plenty of room for all five of us and our mountain of luggage. It had everything we needed including a fridge, microwave, two televisions (Disney Channel for kids, Olympics for mom and dad), a huge bathroom (big enough for three kids to take a bath!), and a full hot breakfast every morning. And it was all for a very reasonable price.
I highly recommend what we did: The first day we flew in to Orlando, we stayed at Embassy Suites for a night, then caught their airport shuttle back to the airport and hopped on Disney’s Magical Express. Our last night, we did the same – taking the Magical Express to the airport and transferring to to Embassy Suites for a night before flying out the next morning. It was so great with the kids – we were able to decompress and relax before and after the craziness of Disney. After 5 busy, tiring days at Disney, a relaxing night of ordering pizza in our room (and complimentary wine for mom and dad) was just what the doctor ordered!!
The staff at this hotel went above and beyond for our family. At the welcome reception the first evening, one employee – without our asking- found apple juice and a bowl of fresh fruit for my toddler. I was blown away by that little gesture. Then when it was pouring rain, we asked if the front desk had umbrellas we could borrow to walk to a nearby restaurant and they offered to drive us over in the shuttle. The second night we stayed, my husband went to check on the kids in the dark and walked into the coffee table, slicing his leg open. The staff at the front desk was so helpful and concerned for him, providing first aid supplies and even offering to drive him to the ER if he needed. The staff made this hotel stand out from other Embassy Suites we’ve stayed at.
The only complaint I have is just a general hotel one: thin walls. We could hear the man in the room next to us having a phone conversation like he was in the room with us (which means everyone could probably hear my son’s crying at 1am loud and clear as well). And the open atrium – while gorgeous – was rather loud on the Saturday night we were there while our kids were going to sleep.
All in all, I highly recommend this hotel and would definitely stay here again! The two non-negotiables of a hotel are 1. comfy beds and 2. a great shower. And this hotel had both! (Seriously, very comfy beds and a terrific shower!) See how comfy:
(Baby not sleeping is no indication of how comfy beds are. He isn't a fan of sleep in general.)
Disclosure: i was not compensated financially for this review. photo is from hilton.com, since as soon as we enter a hotel room with our three kids, it no longer is picture-worthy.
This past weekend, my family and I enjoyed two nights at the brand new Hope Lake Lodge at the Greek Peak Mountain Resort in Cortland, NY in the finger lakes region.
We drove up in a light snow and saw the lodge, warm and welcoming like a postcard! We walked into a gigantic three story lobby, saw a roaring fire in the stone fireplace surrounded by comfy couches and picked up a cup of the complimentary hot coffee that is waiting to be enjoyed all day. Let me tell you, after a drive in the snow with three kids, it was heaven on earth!
We went up to our room and gave a collective “Wow!” It was gorgeous: rustic without being tacky (hard to pull off!), more than enough room for our family of 5, and had all the comforts of home. I was very impressed with how well-stocked the room was. We’ve stayed at a ton of hotels, condos and timeshares over the years and generally the “kitchens” are ridiculous. Usually they have one small pot and a frying pan and they never have enough dishes. This kitchen had everything from steak knives to a can opener to cookie sheets to wine glasses to food storage containers. I’ve never seen one like this. There was everything we would have needed to cook a big meal for our family! There was even a dishwasher. We ate breakfast in our room both mornings, relaxing in our pajamas.
There are several room layouts that fit anywhere from 4 to 10 people. We had layout B and it was perfect for us – plenty of room for us and all our stuff. The rooms have tons of storage in the huge closets, so we weren’t constantly tripping over all our boots and suitcases and stuff. You probably know that my two non-negotiables of a hotel are 1) comfy beds and 2) a great shower. The beds here were very comfortable – even the Murphy bed I shared with Colin was nice! The shower was terrific – actually the whole bathroom was gorgeous, now that I think about it!
Cascades Indoor Waterpark (located right in the lodge) was super fun. The kids had such a blast. We could hardly tear them away to eat and sleep – it was all they wanted to do. It was torture when they woke up at seven and had to wait three whole hours for it to open. (“It is open yet?” “What about now?” “Is it open now?”) It was very fun – even for mom and dad. We spent most of our time there over the weekend, going there twice on Saturday and again on Sunday before we left. The waterpark has a great variety of attractions, so its perfect for families with little kids and big kids/grownups. My husband also went tubing with the girls on Saturday afternoon, which was a huge hit! The girls had never been before and they really enjoyed it. Meanwhile, I got pampered at the gorgeous Waterfall Spa. I was so impressed with how affordable, yet luxurious it was. My Apres Ski Massage was fabulous! I highly recommend scheduling some “me time” while you’re there!
There are two restaurants in Hope Lake Lodge: Acorn Grill and Edgewater Cafe. We hit the Edgewater Cafe for lunch on Saturday while we were at the waterpark. The burgers were very good and the kids devoured a pizza. That night we went to the Acorn Grill, which was excellent. My husband and I both had very yummy meals, going with the entrees our server recommended highest, while the kids happily devoured their chicken fingers. (We skipped dessert at the restaurant and got ice cream at the Edgewater Cafe instead! Yum!)
Greek Peak Resort is a terrific family destination. We had such a terrific time – my kids were in tears when we left, saying they wanted to stay for a whole week next time! I’d love to come back with my extended family — this would be such a great place for a little family reunion! The small touches made a huge difference: hot coffee and muffins in the lobby, a hotel store that actually had reasonable prices, shuttles to the ski area every 10 minutes… Plus, every employee we interacted with was eager to help, very friendly and constantly asking if there was anything they could do to make our stay better.
Disclaimer: greek peak mountain resort provided our family with lodging and other benefits, such as tubing tickets, for the weekend, so my family and I could experience the resort. i was not compensated financially for this post.
This weekend, we took a little family retreat. We needed one, believe me! Life has been so crazy lately. Since we returned from Disney two weeks ago, we've all been sick, my husband has been traveling, we've had EVEN MORE snow and our house has been annoying the heck out of us (what with the furnace not working and needing a new oil tank and all). Needless to say, we needed to recharge.
We headed up to Greek Peak Mountain Resort in Cortland, NY. Just what we needed.
We had such a fantastic time! I've never been to a indoor water park before and wasn't sure what to expect, but it was really nice! The kids had a blast swimming. And they even tried tubing. (And, boy, did they sleep well. Holy cow, they were exhausted! It was awesome!) And it was so nice to go somewhere that was warm… even if it was inside 😉
Colin was totally hysterical! He has zero sense of self-preservation and just throws himself into the water. He was seriously depressed that he could not go on the gigantic slide with Daddy. And he loved the small kiddie pool with a tiny slide (which he went down face first, of course)!
Gracie was the biggest surprise of the weekend. Our normally timid little girl loved the waterslides! She was barely tall enough to go on them and once she did, it was all she wanted to do. Even if I was on the other side of the waterpark with Colin, I could tell when she went down the slide… she screamed the whole way down. Ellie and Gracie both loved the pools that went outside.
And the girls LOVED tubing with Daddy! (Mommy stayed in the room while Colin rested. Sitting by the fire. Sipping a hot cup of coffee and reading a book. Awesome.) I even got treated to a massage Saturday. It was fabulous!
I highly recommend running away from home!!
disclosure: greek peak provided our family with a room for the weekend. i was not compensated financially for this post. a review coming soon to girlymama reviews.
Thursday morning, all of us moms were up bright and early to catch the bus to Epcot for breakfast. I met some fabulous 'Disney moms': JL, Jennifer, Jackie, and more delightful ladies than I can remember! While we were enjoying a yummy breakfast, we listened to a fabulous presentation by Guy Kawasaki. He was so real and funny as he gave us tons of tips on how to harness the power of Twitter for our sites… such great information that was especially appreciated by us busy moms who are always trying to make the most of our time!
Then came one of the highlights: Disney’s involvement in the conference was to share about Disney’s Give A Day, Get a Day program. Already, 600,000 volunteers have signed up and completed the program to date – but Disney's goal is to get to one million volunteers. The entire day's events focused on honoring those who have volunteered, spotlighting volunteer opportunities and encouraging people to continue to give. It was inspiring!
And, boy, was the audience surprised when Ty Pennington from Extreme Makeover: Home Edition made an appearance and had the audience to shout with him “move those balloons!” to reveal the world’s largest canned food sculpture–more than 115,000 cans. (Later that day there was a volunteer event to pack all the canned food into boxes for distribution to food shelters.) Can you believe I forgot my camera for this morning? Of all mornings! Like I'm going to run into Ty Pennington again someday. UGH!!
After the presentation, my family and I headed over to the Princess Storybook Dining at Norway's Akershus. We've never been to any character meal at Disney and it was everything I'd heard! This was the highlight of the trip for Gracie, so for me it was worth every penny. We met Sleeping Beauty, Snow White, Ariel, Belle and Cinderella:
I was worried the kids wouldn't really enjoy Epcot after our day at Magic Kingdom, but they had a blast. Disney has done a great job of providing fun activities throughout the park. They loved walking through World Showcase (where we saw tons of characters: Aladdin, Jasmine, Mulan, and Mary Poppins to name just a few). The girls were crazy about Test Track and rode it twice. But the highlight for the entire family was when Colin got to see Nemo! The Seas with Nemo and Friends ride is totally amazing… I was blown away. SUCH a cool ride! We rode it three times, I think. I wish it had been around when Ellie was 2 and totally obsessed with all things Nemo. Colin was squealing with excitement the entire time. I'll never forget it!
Later that evening, we were treated to yet another surprise: an amazing dinner prepared by Chef Robert Irvine and his crew from Food Network's Dinner Impossible. Thursday night’s event was held outside and it was cold, but Disney staff was handing out hand warmers and had outdoor heaters to help kept us warm. We parked ourselves next to a heater at a table with Mandy's adorable family and enjoyed the food that was inspired by the Disney Princesses! I loved the seafood shepherd’s pie while Gracie and Colin inhaled the chicken lo mein: I can’t wait to see the show when it airs on Food Network in the spring!
After dinner we were treated to a concert by a new band, Allstar Weekend (winners of Disney’s Next Big Thing contest), then Joe Jonas and Demi Lovato took the stage. The night ended with a fabulous fireworks display. This was my girls first concert experience and they were totally into it! They were waving their glow sticks and dancing around with their arms in the air… they were so cute they even got up on the big screen 🙂 It was a fantastic night and a terrific party. I love how Disney pulled out all the stops to honor the volunteers!
Disclaimer: I paid a fee to attend this conference, but as an attendee I received complimentary items, special discounts, and other exciting benefits such as food and entertainment, so my family and I could experience the magic of Walt Disney World.
Wednesday morning we were woken up bright and early at the Embassy Suites Orlando Airport by three extremely excited little people! We headed downstairs for breakfast, where we ran into Janine and her adorable twin girls who were so sweet. What a great way to start our Disney Mom experience! We hopped on the shuttle and transferred to the Magical Express at the airport and were on our way to the Walt Disney World Resort.
We were dropped off at the Polynesian Resort, checked in (and met Christy – such a sweetie!) and went to pick up my conference packet (and a sweet bag of goodies!) and immediately headed out to the Magic Kingdom! We spent a fabulous day at the Magic Kingdom, taking full advantage of the media fast pass that was in our packet! It would be hard to pick a single highlight, but a few included:
We returned to our hotel around 4:30 get ready for night's festivities! At 5:00 we caught the bus to ESPN Wide World of Sports. The kids and families were whisked away for some hot chocolate and sports-themed fun while the bloggers were treated to a short briefing and presentation by Meg Crofton, President of the Walt Disney World Resort. We listened as she and several others spoke to us about what's next for Disney. And there are some amazing things on the horizon:
Disney Cruise Line – Not only is Castaway Cay, Disney's private island in the Bahamas, getting a huge makeover, but there will be two new ships in the Disney fleet. Disney Dream and Disney Fantasy are scheduled to set sail in 2011 and 2012. Disney Cruise Line will also be sailing beyond the Bahamas – ships will be sailing both to Alaska and Europe. It has been my dream for years to take an Alaskan cruise – totally on my 'bucket list'. And now I know what cruise line I want to go on! After the presentations, we met up with our families and were treated to an amazing night of Disney entertainment – yummy food, dancing for the kids, characters visiting our tables, and schmoozing with other bloggers. This night was by far my kids favorite. Who knew my girls had inherited their Mama's love of dancing the night away? We practically had to drag them off the stage. It was a fabulous party and just a small taste of the amazing week that was to come!
Disclaimer: I paid a fee to attend this conference, but as an attendee I received complimentary items, special discounts, and other exciting benefits such as food and entertainment, so my family and I could experience the magic of Walt Disney World.
We just recently enjoyed a three night stay at Disney’s Polynesian Resort, part of the gorgeous Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, Florida. And when I say “enjoyed” I mean “had the socks knocked off of us.” Lets start at the beginning:
We pulled up to the Polynesian after getting off the Magical Express, walked over a waterfall-lined, tropical walkway lined with flaming tiki-torches and into the amazing lobby. We were all given leis and my kids were literally squealing in delight – it was just so beautiful. The main building – the Ceremonial House – hosts the hotel main desk, several shops and restaurants and the walkway to the monorail. Seeing as its Disney, the staff was absolutely delightful.
Our room was a standard garden view room. It had two queen beds, a day bed, gorgeous Polynesian-style decor and a huge marble bathroom with private toilet. The rooms also have coffeemakers, refrigerators and microwaves (on request), hair dryers, irons and ironing boards and an in-room safe. We also had a crib in our room (also complimentary on request). There was more than enough room for our family of 5, the huge double stroller, our four suitcases and our piles of other stuff. Our room was quiet, comfortable and gorgeous!
As I’ve said before the two non-negotiables of a hotel are 1) comfy beds and 2) a great shower. The beds at the Polynesian were very comfy. I loved the bedside lamps on a dimmer – they made perfect nightlights for the kids. (The hotel also will provide bedrails if you need for little ones). The shower was literally my only disappointment with this hotel. Our shower was weak – only one setting worked and not very well. I couldn’t even get my hair clean.The hotel offers so much right on site (which we learned during a rainy day!). There are four restaurants on site – one of which is Ohana, which offers a popular character breakfast. (Get there early, even with a reservation. Its really popular!!) Captain Cook’s is a quick service restaurant that offers kids meals for around $5 as well as bottles of milk and juice that we stocked our fridge with to pacify the toddler until we could get him real breakfast. The Spirit of Aloha Dinner Show is very popular as well. They even had craft activities every afternoon for the kidlets.
As for location, I cannot imagine a better location within the Disney Resort – its located directly across the Seven Seas Lagoon from the Magic Kingdom. You can even watch the fireworks from the sandy beach at the resort! The monorail comes right outside the lobby and within minutes you can be at the Magic Kingdom. Buses to Epcot, Downtown Disney, Disney’s Hollywood Studios and Disney’s Animal Kingdom pull up right outside, or you can walk one block to the Transportation Center and get the monorail to Epcot.
This hotel was FABULOUS! Our next trip to Disney, I will look into staying here first before any other Disney hotel. The location is just too perfect!! And my kids, who have stayed at lots of hotels in their young lives, said this was their most favorite hotel ever!
disclosure: i stayed at the polynesian as part of the disney social media moms conference. while i did pay to attend the conference, we were given a terrific deal by disney!
Yesterday we returned from 5 fun-filled days at the Walt Disney World Resort, where I had the privilege of attending the Disney Social Media Moms Conference (#DisneySMMoms).
I've been to many a bloggy event and I must say, this was the event to end all events. It was not only tons of fun, but it was also intimate, very well-organized, offered inspiring and informative speakers and it included my whole family. There is no way to cut down all that we did into a post that is less than 5 pages long, so here are just a few quick highlights…
There's so much more to share… but it will take a while it get it all down! I'll be posting more soon!
Within minutes, it began to sink in….
Please notice Colin running into the wall at the end. Its not surprising he has been to the hospital so many times in his life already!
As you might have noticed, today we're heading to Disney World for the Social Media Moms Conference! Frankly, I'd go to Disney for a Really Boring Conference about Physics, but this??? Blogging + Disney = Melissa heaven!
Luckily, we were able to change our flight to hopefully beat the coming snow storm *fingers crossed* — that was all my husband. He called up the airline on Sunday and switched the flight after watching the weather report. And my crushed face as I realized the storm was scheduled to hit exactly when our flight was scheduled to take off. So he's my hero of the day!
Hopefully flying with three kids won't be as terrible as I'm anticipating. Ellie and Grace will be totally fine, but the boy is NOT a fan of such activities as Sitting Still or Being Quiet. So we apologize in advance if you are on our flight. Especially if you are sitting near us.
