The Travel Thread

[blackjack68]

We did our first trip to the Jersey Shore since we moved to Pittsburgh in 2002. It was a Sunday day trip to Ocean City, NJ. I was surprised at how much less seedy and clean it was compared to how I remember. Thank goodness for EZ-Pass, the ac expressway from Philly, and the garden state parkway always had huge backups at the booths on the weekends.

OCNJ is a dry, family-friendly town.

I can't remember it ever being "seedy" compared to some other beaches (Seaside and Wildwood).

[viva la ben]

I'm referring to the locals.

[shmenguin]

North Jersey Shore. South Jersey Shore. Veeeery different.

[tifosi77]

In the next month, Mrs Tif will be traveling to NYC, Miami and possibly Madrid for work. I am unable to join her for any of these trips.

[pittsoccer33]

I only fly a few times per year and I've had really good luck with flight delays and whatnot - nothing too long.

Tomorrow I'm flying into Florida. Today's flight with that same number has been delayed since 7:00 this morning. Other flights from PIT to MCO have taken off on time, so I have to assume its operational and not weather related in anyway.

Given that its been delayed 7.5 hours now should I be worried about a systemic back up wreaking my plans for tomorrow?

[blackjack68]

I only fly a few times per year and I've had really good luck with flight delays and whatnot - nothing too long.

Tomorrow I'm flying into Florida. Today's flight with that same number has been delayed since 7:00 this morning. Other flights from PIT to MCO have taken off on time, so I have to assume its operational and not weather related in anyway.

Given that its been delayed 7.5 hours now should I be worried about a systemic back up wreaking my plans for tomorrow?

Not necessarily. But, if the weather is a mess all day and all night...you might have some trouble.

I wish you luck!

[blackjack68]

Did you get out?

[Dickie Dunn]

Apparently Disney World is going to be shutting down the Indiana Jones Stunt Spectacular at the end of the year. The article I read was from back in June was "confirmed" but no formal announcement has been made yet. This would coincide with the shuttering of the nearby American Idol Experience to provide enough space for Disney to build numerous Star Wars attractions.

This would kinda suck if it ultimately comes to fruition. The stunt show is one of my favorite attractions at Hollywood Studios, but the prospect of more Star Wars rides, and ultimately a "Star Wars Land", is awesome. I'd rather see them rip out the completely dated Star Tours ride (in general, a lot of rides at Disney seem dated), but that would leave them without a Star Wars presence until the new stuff is finished, so that will never happen.

Disney owns a ton of land down there, I wonder if they've explored the idea of a fifth park that is just Star Wars related. That would be a huge attraction and a Star Wars themed hotel would probably become the most popular in the park.

[yubb]

Four of us (two couples) are going to Paris, London, Brussells and Brugges the last two weeks of October.

We've applied for Manchester United tickets. Everything else is pretty wide open at this point.

What should we see? The more off the beaten path the better. Obviously we'll be seeing the Eiffel tower and all that crap.

[Gaucho]

Skip Bruges and go to Gent instead. Well, not really, visit Bruges, by all means. But take the train (or car) to Gent, too. It's on the way to Bruxelles from Bruges anyway. Or the other way around. While in Bruges, do not buy chocolate.

[viva la ben]

How are the waffles in bruges?

[yubb]

Skip Bruges and go to Gent instead. Well, not really, visit Bruges, by all means. But take the train (or car) to Gent, too. It's on the way to Bruxelles from Bruges anyway. Or the other way around. While in Bruges, do not buy chocolate.

Brugge is actually a day trip from Brussels for us. It looks like you probably pass right through Gent on the way. Why do you prefer Gent to Brugge?

[Idoit40fans]

Just watch In Bruges and skip the city itself.

[Gaucho]

Skip Bruges and go to Gent instead. Well, not really, visit Bruges, by all means. But take the train (or car) to Gent, too. It's on the way to Bruxelles from Bruges anyway. Or the other way around. While in Bruges, do not buy chocolate.

Brugge is actually a day trip from Brussels for us. It looks like you probably pass right through Gent on the way. Why do you prefer Gent to Brugge?

Brügge is really quite lovely, maybe even a little too much so. It's a little kitschy in its loveliness, if you know what I mean, sort of like an open-air museum. It's also overrun by tourists, but hopefully not as much at the end of October. If you can manage, avoid going there on a weekend. All that being said, it is beautiful. Gent completely blew me away while I was there. Part of it probably had to do with not really knowing what to expect (I almost did not stop there while going from Antwerp - also well worth a visit - to Brügge). Gent is bigger and has a university, so it just feel a little more lively and varied. To a friend I described as being "much like Brügge, but with Williamsburg attached to it."

[columbia]

Brügge is really quite lovely, maybe even a little too much so. It's a little kitschy in its loveliness, if you know what I mean, sort of like an open-air museum. It's also overrun by tourists, but hopefully not as much at the end of October.

You just described the city I live in. With the weather cooling off slightly, it will be a very nice place to live and enjoy for the next 6 months.

[yubb]

Brügge is really quite lovely, maybe even a little too much so. It's a little kitschy in its loveliness, if you know what I mean, sort of like an open-air museum. It's also overrun by tourists, but hopefully not as much at the end of October.

You just described the city I live in. With the weather cooling off slightly, it will be a very nice place to live and enjoy for the next 6 months.

Do you live in Brugge?

[pittsoccer33]

Did you get out?

Sure did. Took off a few minutes early and landed about 25 minutes early in Orlando. No problems picking up the rental car at all and they gave us a Mustang GT. Cool!

Getting to and checking into Cabana Bay was really easy. The hotel is amazing - a retro 60s theme and its brand new. Our room was ready when we got there at 11:00 so we took our stuff up to the room and then caught the shuttle to the parks.

There are some walking paths from Cabana Bay to the entrance to City Walk, but the free shuttle was always ready to leave and only took 5 minutes or so to get over there.

We did Islands of Adventure the first day and walked on everything. And I mean walked on. In and out of the Hogwarts castle ride in under 15 minutes. We got to the park around 11:30 and had ridden everything by 2:00.

We were going to see City Walk and have dinner there that night but we were both so tired and wanted to enjoy our hotel's pools. Plus the pool bar had a $4 craft beer special. We were drinking 16oz cans of Sierra Nevada Torpedo for $4 while others were coming up to the bar ordering $8.75 Bud Lights. The resort has a bowling alley & bar on the second level so we just had dinner in there. Nothing fancy but it was reasonably priced and everyone was extremely friendly and offered us suggestions and advice.

The second day we went to the Studios for early 8am admission (a perk of staying in a Universal resort). I knew the Diagon Alley line had been out of control throughout the summer, and there were dozens of adults and families literally jogging to the back of the park where the new Harry Potter area was. For no reason - another ride we walked right on! Even the second time we rode Escape from Gringotts we were in and out in under 20 minutes. The ride was definitely the most technologically advanced I've ever been on. The configuration was similar to the Mummy coaster but with the 3D screen technology on Transformers (which is the ride I liked the most). With no line for Transformers we were able to take a lot of pictures in the queue line and were the only ones in our car.

We rode everything in the park twice by 11am so we had lunch in the City Walk before riding a few things again and leaving for Jacksonville to visit friends.

I can't recommend the Cabana Bay hotel enough. We a discount code our room came to $113 with tax.

my picture:


others:

[columbia]

Is that an old hotel or one that just looks like one?

[pittsoccer33]

just opened this summer but obviously with a retro Route 66 road trip theme

[slappybrown]

That Cabana Bay pic looks like a still from Fallout: New Vegas (paging shad)

[llipgh2]

Is Cabana Bay part of the Universal Studios resort?

[Dickie Dunn]

Nice to hear the ride wait times were short. When I was there in April it was pretty brutal. Transformers took about 90 minutes.

[pittsoccer33]

Cabana Bay is a universal resort. You get into the Harry Potter rides early like the other hotels, but you don't get the complimentary express pass since its a "value' resort.

It has five buidlings. Three are six person family suites. The other two buildings are standard rooms and I noticed mostly 20-40something couples in the halls.

[blackjack68]

Perfect time of year for low crowds. Glad to hear the hotel was good. May have to try it next visit. Although we do like the Royal Pacific and have gotten it for $129/$139 off season.

[Letang Is The Truth]

whats the deal with jamiaca