CJHokie

28 minutes ago, shoreline99 said:

^what tom said. Or order one from amazon to be delivered there, lol.

If you're worried about the motion sickness, try the wristbands that sit on your pressure points - that has worked very well for my son that gets car sick.

 

Yeah, or take Bonine every night, starting the night before you get there (it does make me drowsy until my body adjusts). I did not take any with me and ended up buying Dramamine in AK after Everest. Then I could only find Dramamine in a gas station we went to and the grocery store. Why does FL hate Bonine??

So, in Islands of Adventure, I personally would probably only ride Jurassic Park and the two water rides. One is a flume and the other is the round boat type. I will say that is the absolute wettest I've ever been after one of those rides.   There are also some rides in Dr. Seuss land I could ride, but they are kiddie rides. There are a couple of shows that I don't remember if I did before, but we definitely didn't this past time. And then there's Hogsmeade to walk around in.

In Universal, there's Diagon Alley to walk through. My kids are torn on whether I could've ridden Gringott's and not gotten sick. They said it's like the HP ride in IoA, so I'm leaning towards no go. But I've also heard that HP ride compared to Soarin' which I can ride no problem.  Oh, and there's a fire-breathing dragon over Gringott's. We missed it breathing fire somehow the first day, so make sure you stand there until it does it.  I mentioned the Hogwarts Express. You have to have the 2-park ticket to ride that, so that's a cost consideration.

Also in Univ, I have ridden ET with no problem (it reminded me of Peter Pan in DW, not sure if you have that in DL). We did not ride Men in Black, but it looks like Buzz Lightyear or Toy Story Midway Mania, both of which I can ride.  I've heard the Simpsons ride was so bad at first they had to close it all the time to clean up puke. I think they toned it down somehow but it's still bad. Then there are some other 3D rides that I haven't done. And it looks like some shows I haven't seen.

Overall, there's not a whole lot to do in either park for motion sickness sufferers, but you could definitely spend a full day in both parks. I'd say it depends on your budget. Plus, factor in how you would get there - uber? taxi?

3 minutes ago, Westcoastwild said:

Cjhokie- thank you for the ride info. So, in your opinion, was there enough at Universal to enjoy despite your motion sickness? I really want to go for Harry Potter and I doubt I'll go to Florida again. But I'm wondering if it's worth the cost of a ticket. I can ride coasters, but the first simulator that I've ever been able to ride is Soaring...and that is now when I have comparatively few problems with motion sickness.  star tours is the sickest I have gotten in a long time

Hmm, let me check out their website and see.  Diagon Alley is amazing, with the level of detail. I would almost say it's worth it just to see that, but I don't remember how much tickets are.

Oh, also stay away from the simulators!

Disney has Star Tours and I don't even know, do they still have Body something?

Universal has a ton of simulators. If you can't tell from the map or looking at the ride, ask someone who works there.

You've already got some great info from others. I will only add what I know of the rides. FTR, I have had motion sickness my entire life, but it was especially bad on our FW trip last Dec. So, you may be able to ride most of these. And I don't even remember if you were asking about rides because of that or what. Oh, just reread and saw you are prone to motion sickness, so here goes!

DisneyWorld

Mission Space or whatever it's called - I have ridden the mild version before (a couple of years ago) without getting sick, but I did have to close my eyes a couple of times.

Everest - Have ridden it a few times, but this past time I threw up after. 

Space Mt. - Was not right the last time I rode that, so I skipped it last trip.

Rock n Roller coaster - Haven't ridden that since '02 when I was super close to throwing up after.

That's all I can think of for now.

Universal

Honestly, there's a lot here I would not ride, and I went with someone who had front-of-the-line passes for our whole group. So, I was sherpa.

Anyway, my husband and son had been going on about Harry Potter since we were there in '14, so I rode that. Big mistake. I had to close my eyes right off the bat and keep them closed the entire time, so I ended up not seeing any of it. I passed on the newer HP ride in Gringott's.  If you have tix for both parks there, definitely do the HP train between them.  

I think the only other ride I tried there was Minions. I did the motion free seats and still almost got sick. Had to close my eyes a few times.  

If I think of more, I will come back here.  Have a great trip!!  It will be hot and it will be crowded.  I would suggest definitely getting to the parks early.

Sounds like it also means no more watching the MK fireworks at FW.

1 hour ago, parrothead7368 aka Norm said:

Could you guys start talking about money trees, because you started talking about coyotes and there was a report today of two in our neighborhood that attacked a dog. Thanks in advance.

Best Regards,

Norm

Seriously.

And I saw a thread on page 2 of one of these boards where someone was asking about alligators there. Very weird reading it after the attack.

8 minutes ago, keith_h said:

Coyotes are just about everywhere. They are living and breeding in downtown Chicago. We have them in my neighborhood even though the NC Wildlife Resource Commission swears to me that they stopped at the county line about 7 miles from the house. Most will run away from humans unless you have a pet and they are actively hunting. I don't know if this is common across the country but out west they are known to send a female in heat out to lure male dogs back to the pack. So if you know coyotes are in the area you need to supervise your pets particularly at night.

I was just about to say the same.  We hear them all the time here in Charlotte. I have a game camera in my back yard and have gotten several pics. We have a big Golden Retriever who was going nuts one night when my husband was out on the porch. He went back with a flashlight on a retaining wall we have and saw a coyote. It wasn't scared of him or the dog. That is a little creepy to me but I read they are curious and it doesn't necessarily mean it had rabies.

3 minutes ago, Travisma said:

My wife has been cutting contact paper, sticking it onto t-shirts, then using silk screen ink to "print" an image.  They are 1 shot ones, but she was only making shirts for nieces and nephews for school graduations.

Interesting.  

I know my SIL was using a glitter iron-on type vinyl with a heat press to make T-shirts.

She also made her husband happy by making decals for his boat. :D

3 minutes ago, Beckers said:

Jen can you remove 19. When I click it t takes you to a normal page that is then taken over with spam and who knows what other bad stuff telling me I won an iPhone.

I think it was #24 that took me to something that didn't look right either.

My SIL gave me a Cameo lesson this weekend. She just made a ton of stuff for her daughter's wedding. 

Now I must have one.  Her daughter also has one that she has never taken out of the box. My SIL says she will probably sell it to me when her first rent payment is due.  

I didn't know besides cutting the vinyl stuff I could also cut fabric for my sewing projects. Maybe Santa can bring me one if the other one doesn't pan out.

Have not tried any of those. I did make some homemade fire starters I got on Pinterest. You pack dryer lint inside of empty toilet paper rolls. Only, they didn't work according to my husband.  Theoretically they should. Dryer lint is amazing tinder (I learned that when I did Cub Scouts with my boys, plus it leads to many dryer fires), and toilet paper rolls are just paper. He thought maybe they were packed too tight.  

According to my friend, the pool is open until 8 right now (still early, I know). 

Carowinds has a water park that is included in the park ticket (take that, Dolly!), and it is only open until 7 right now.

Like I said above, I'm guessing you were here before area schools were out (we go to around June 10) and Carowinds did not have summer hours yet.  And Carowinds does close in the summer winter (whoops), but the campground is open all year if anyone needed a quick overnight during the winter.

3 hours ago, BuckeyeFortFan said:

We had reservations at camp wilderness once.  We left home at 8 am on a June morning and drove all day to Charlotte.  We arrived at 4 or 5 pm and checked in, set up the TT and headed for the pool as it was in the 90s and 3 kids had been couped up in the truck all day with only promises of swimming to keep them going.  Pool was closed.  It wasn't 6pm yet.  Hours of daylight left.  I enquired as to the pool closing situation.  Apparently the pool had to close when the amusement park did....or some equally stupid reason.  I got our money back, hitched the trailer back up, and drove to the 5 miles down 77 to the fort Mill koa, where the pool was open until 10....because people like to swim in June.....after 4 o'clock.

That is weird. The park is open late in the summer.  Must have been early June before schools are out here.  My friend is camping there now. I will ask her what the pool hours are.

I just drove through this one yesterday to check it out.  My husband has no interest, but one of our camping friends was staying a few days this week so I was hoping to talk him into taking our motorhome down (we are in N. Charlotte, so about 30 min.)  It was shadier than I was expecting, so I may be able to talk him into it after all.  He thought it was going to be a big parking lot, but it really does remind me of campgrounds I went to in the 70s when I was a kid.  

We're in season now, and I think it's more like $50-60/night.  It was way more crowded yesterday than I was expecting. 

I think it would be a great overnight stop right off the interstate if I was coming or going to the north.

3 minutes ago, Seals said:

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. 

ICBW, but I thought the signs say no swimming or wading.  I don't think they mention alligators, though.

My husband just called to tell me this. Truly horrible.  

The first time we stayed at the Fort ('14, I think), we were sitting on the boat to MK and had a gator swim by. The captain radioed someone. I don't remember if it was then or the CM working on the dock this past Christmas when my boys did the little Sea Rays (drawing a blank on their actual name), but some CM told us they get gators all the time, remove them, and still have more. They just can't keep them out.  Also, with the little boats, my boys were told not to get in the water nor even to reach over and put their hand in. I asked if that was because of gators and the guy said yes.  And obviously that's why they have the beach chairs way back and say no wading or swimming on the beaches.  

Still can't even imagine how horrible.

Thanks for all the advice.  Not sure if we will be able to time it. The kids have half day school, which means the middle schooler will get home around 12:30, which would put us there in the very worst, horrible time.  Maybe we will let him skip that day. I am pretty sure we hit there last year in one of the suggested time windows and it was still horrible, so not sure about this magical window.

I know I've read stuff here and there on this topic, and I may have asked in another thread but don't remember if I did or not. Getting close to trip time now.  Wondering if there is any way for us to avoid going through ATL. 

Here are the specifics:

We are coming from Charlotte area, going to Camp Gulf in Destin area (actual address Miramar Beach) in a 40ft. Class A probably towing a Jeep with 4 bikes on the back. 

Have looked at various alternatives on Google Maps and our Rand McNally RV GPS (which has steered us horribly, horribly wrong in the past), and there are a lot of of tiny-looking roads that make us nervous, plus it adds like 45min-1.5 longer. So maybe we should just suck it up and deal with the traffic.

We went to the same place last year and the trip was kind of a nightmare. Mr. CJH bumped side mirrors with a tractor trailer so then I had to help be his eyes on that side until we got out of ATL to a truck stop and could readjust.  We overnighted in Eufala, but it seems like total trip time was 13 hrs. when it should've been 10. FTR, we went straight through instead of the bypass, but I've heard that doesn't really make a difference, sometimes one is traffic jam, sometimes the other is, or usually both are.

We ended up going across the panhandle to Jax and up 95 on the return trip. 

So, any guidance will be appreciated. Please and thank you.

20 hours ago, BayLake Campers said:

Sears bought K-Mart back in 2004, that's why you can buy craftsman tools at K-Mart now

Huh, learn something new every day.

The K-Mart closest me closed in the late 90s, IIRC. There is one about 20 minutes away, but I have only gone there once to look for an elusive school supply.  No need with 2 Wal-Marts and 2 Targets closer.

I have not heard of or used those.  I use AllStays a lot and found it very helpful on our cross country trip.

9 minutes ago, Grumpy and Grandma said:

Many are still at the buffet the pool or unpacking.

Exactly!

Yes, casino is a moot point on Disney. I don't recall for certain about the stores, but you are probably right - I'm sure it's a tax thing. But I can think of a million other things to do than shop while waiting to depart.

That's awesome.

The article mentioned everyone on board having to wait too.  I'm not sure why anyone would care if they're already on the ship. Not like they had somewhere to be that night or were confined to their cabins. They had all the ship's amenities.  The one Disney cruise we did was delayed in departing and no one noticed.

LOL, I know exactly what you are talking about. I even have an accounting degree and was having trouble explaining to my husband exactly what we spent while we were there while looking at the bill.