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We walked to and through the Nassau Hilton on our December 2014 Wonder cruise. The hotel lobby was nice to look at but I wasn't overly impressed with the beach and pool area to make it worth the day pass price. We felt compelled to get off the ship both times we were in Nassau and walked one direction to a fort the first time and the other direction to another fort the second time. Both times we were antsy to get back on the ship after a few hours. It just wasn't relaxing. On our first cruise there were only two other ships docked in Nassau and not next to us. The second cruise I got up early

I agree that everyone who says a Disney cruise is on their wish list should take one. I'm fairly cheap but I don't regret any of the money we spent on the two we've been on. So many great memories and family time. I noticed that the List of Fun says "Turkey Leg Mom Only". This would be on my family's list of fun if someone other than me wrote the list.

I never, ever (in my few visits) have made dining reservations because they seem too restrictive for us. But I've decided I'd really like to eat at Be Our Guest during our trip this Fall. I couldn't make a lunch reservation for all 5 of us, so I figured we'd dump the teens and my husband I could eat there. But no reservation for 2. So what if I go solo? Yes, seating is available for 1. So where does one eat solo that couldn't hold 2 people? Would I be joining another party?

Interesting product. I notice the website says "for little or no charge" in at least two places but free in others. I could definitely see there being a dollar or two cost to swap eventually. My question is: has anyone tried this specific product and did it work well? I've gotten my boys a couple of different relativley cheap portable chargers for their camping trips and they've stopped working, won't hold a charge after a couple of uses. I guess with the swap that wouldn't matter as much but I'd want to be able to recharge it when I wasn't near a place to swap.

I had wondered about the Jungle Cruise and Tik Tok Croc (although I didn't know his name,just had seen him in parade pictures). I'd forgotten about the Safari. I'd actually thought even about the Orlando massacre and the Great Movie Ride since I've gotten a little twinge of panic when the gangster appears with his gun. And then I started thinking about how when I was a kid, kids played cops and robbers/cowboys and Indians, etc. with no thought that they could be reflecting a real life scenario that could happen to them. I don't know about kids today. Are we more sensitive to this because of so

I think doing what Walt wanted left the building a long time ago. Other theme parks seem to be competing for the fastest/longest/biggest drop/most loops until you throw up thrill rides and I could see Disney joining in the competition for the $$ with a 5th park. Although with their building record, not for a few decades. At which time we'll probably all be time traveling anyway.

Thanks for recommending those comments. I think my favorite was: "There have been reports of gators coming into the Disney pools at night. Disney has crews that find and remove them, but obviously they are erring on the side of caution after this." As if you couldn't see a gator BETTER in the kiddie pool than in a regular pool. Such logic...

Last summer a teenager with his father was attacked by a bear while he slept in a hammock in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. That wasn't as surprising to me as this is. In part because I live closer to that area and am more familair with bear sightings and in part because that is solely a natural area. Some friends stayed at a mountain cabin closer to Gatlinburg and had bears in the driveway. And still, I let my boys go hiking in the woods with their boy scout troop. I know a lot of people are saying the parents should have known to not go near the water. But as I said before, I can

I think this is going to be a hard one for Disney to deal with. There is no such thing as a "freak accident" anymore. Someone or some thing has to have been at fault and be corrected.

Yes, I think stay out of the water is much clearer than no swimming. Along with a specific alligator warning. Ironically, I always feared letting my kids go in the ocean if there was any possibility of undertow. But I wouldn't have thought about wading at the edge of a lake at Disney without a stronger warning than "no swimming."

I can honestly say prior to this it probably wouldn't have occurred to me not to let a 2 year old play in one foot of water on a beach at a Disney resort during a movie night while I'm standing right there. And I live closer to Florida than someone from Nebraska does. It sounds like the signs said no swimming and the child wasn't swimming. Do the signs say anything about alligators? Heartbroken for the family going through this nightmare.

That was my thought. And at one point I thought "Wait, he means he's going to every resort on the same day?!" Enjoying this also. I don't run but have 2 sons who do. They would love to try this, I'm sure.

But, unlike hotel rooms that would need some level of heating/cooling and dusting if they sat empty for a length of time, there's no cost to having empty campsites. And then if they could accommodate even more people ($$) during busy times it would be profitable IF those campers otherwise would be staying offsite or not visiting at all.

I love all the colors. Thanks for sharing.

This sent me Googling, where I particularly enjoyed the description of this one of the 5 theme parks that are part of Lijiang Songcheng Resort: "Lijiang Paradise is the only amusement park in Yunnan Province with the highest altitude in China. It is a fun paradise for adventurous young people to challenge themselves and sprinkle their passion." http://www.songcn.com/EternalCity_en/lj/jqjs.shtml

Eat during non-standard hours. A few years ago at Easter they even were giving out %off Quick Service coupons if you ate lunch between like 11-12 and dinner 3-4 or something like that. Added bonus was that those weren't busy times so we got our food a lot quicker and were able to find a table.

Interesting article. Interesting discussion. I'm late Baby Boomer (1962) and my kids are late Millenials and the very very beginning of whatever comes next (1998; January 2001). According to my children I'm stricter / more demanding of them than most of their friends' mothers, some of whom are a decade younger than I am. I'm also an opponent of participation trophies, although I only express that opinion in my house and try not to roll my eyes too much when they are handed out. One thing I don't think was addressed in the article and which I wonder if makes a difference is family size. Gr

Thanks, Carol and Jason! Now to decision making time. The point of the trip, or my justification, was to use the non-expiration tickets again before my older son goes to college next year since family trips will be even harder to arrange after that point. And it wouldn't cost us as much because we already have tickets. But, with the free dining package we could essentially (comparing package to room discount + what we'd pay out of pocket for dining/refillable mugs) get the five 2-day parkhoppers for around $700 total.

Will the old non-expiring tickets work if they've already been linked to MBs? Also, would the unused tickets from the package have to be used in a particular timeframe?

Say you have days on non-expiration tickets but you want to book a package with the minimum 2-day tickets in order to get "free" dining. What are the rules for using those tickets? Would they have to be used before the non-expiration tickets (I'm assuming they will automatically link to magic bands??). If not, do they have to be used by the same people on the reservation? You can't just get the 2-day tickets and give them to someone else, can you?

If going the tent + ac + heater route you may just want to buy your own tent rather than rent a Disney one. You can get some good deals and many are pretty easy to set up.

"It also underperformed in consumer products." I guess, people finally got tired of buying Frozen merchandise.

Welcome ! There's not really a lot right near I-95 in SC or GA without traveling a ways off. Jekyll Island and/or St. Simons lsland are both very pretty. The Jekyll Island historic district is a nice place to walk around even if you don't pay to go in the houses. And the Georgia Sea Turtle Center there is interesting. St. Simons has Fort Frederica National Monument. We had a great ranger-led tour there. St. Simons has some good restaurants too. We ate at Barbara Jean's and Southern Soul BBQ.

Looks like you got a lot of fun done. I love Sarah's outfit. Reading along....

I just got done reading Be Our Guest: Perfecting the Art of Customer Service for a workshop at my job and it says the first priority of Disney planning is safety. Although there are a number of valid concerns about the Fort I think the golf cart issue, and in general safety of the roads, is/should be their first priority. I haven't visited many times but I have seen kids driving carts, over filled carts and one night two drunk guys who got in a golf cart near the Settlement Hall and drove off without their lights on. And we also were there several years ago when a child on a bike was kille