Sea World Orlando....

Feeding the Dolphins at Sea World Orlando 2012

Sea World has always been a favorite of my sister's when she comes to visit me.  She has a love of stingrays and dolphins that can only be described as "borderline creepy".  (Just kidding!) But I must say that each time she visits we are never disappointed with Sea World.  Because of the interactive nature of the park you can have a different experience every time you visit.   This is the first time I have ever waited on line to feed the dolphins, 55 minutes in all, however it  was worth every minute.  Hint: Everyone that steps into the feeding area is charged $7.00 so if you have someone in your party that just wants to take pictures and has a good camera they can go across the water area and take pictures standing on the bridge.

Feeding the stingrays is a must for everyone!  Everyone can reach in the water and touch the stingrays as they swim by and they come right up to you if you have the tray of food.  The trays of food can be purchased for $5.00 or if you wanted to feed the Stingrays, Sharks and Sea Lions you can feed all 3 for $10.00. You may get wet since the stingrays gets excited and a bit aggressive when it comes to feeding, but they have hand washing stations at every feeding area so everyone can get cleaned up when done.  Hint: If you are going to pay to feed the Stingrays, Sharks and Sea Lions get there early or don't do all three.  The Stingrays will eat any time, but the Sharks and Sea Lions are full and they are not as excited about eating in the afternoon and it is then a wast of money.  Alert: Be careful of the birds at the Sea Lion feeding area, they are aggressive and will swoop down and take the fish out of your hand!  My daughter, age 8, had one swoop down and try and grab a fish from her hand and left a small cut on her hand.

Must See: The Clyde and Seamore Show was entertaining from the minute we sat down.  They have a mime comes out before the show and gets the crowd laughing and then the show is less serious and a bit cheesy which makes it all the more fun.  If you can only see one show, make it this one.

The One Ocean show is where Shamu is featured, and due to the unfortunate death of a trainer a few years ago, the show has been scaled back to jumps and splashes.  Although the changes were necessary for the safety of the trainers, it did reduce some of the entertainment value of the show.  If time allows I would see it, but I would not arrange my schedule around it.

Has anyone had a great or awful experience at Sea World Orlando?  

Savannah in February..

One of the parks on Bay St. in Savannah

Each February for my birthday, my husband and I spend President's Day Weekend in Savannah, Georgia.  It is my husband's birth place and to me it is everything I never knew I wanted.  The squares, the stores, the history, and the people.  

Whenever we are in Savannah, one of the places we like to frequent is Savannah Smiles, a dueling Piano Bar.  It is energetic and fun and most weekend nights you will find bachelorette party or a group of friends celebrating birthdays or anniversaries.  The only criticism I have is that it is a $5.00 cover and they run $50.00 on your credit card when you run a tab.  But that aside, I enjoy every moment while I am there.

Dinner on the Waterfront can be fun, and this time around we visited The Chart House for an early dinner.  We did not have reservations so we had to eat in the lounge area which had table service.  The food was good (and expensive) but we did leave very full.  The service was good, atmosphere is nice but at the end of the night when we received our check, the waitress tried to sell us the restaurant's frequent diner's membership for $ 25.00.  I have to tell you, after spending $ 125.00 on dinner for two the last thing I wanted to do is tack on another $25.00 for a points program.  The waitress was a bit aggressive about it, enough to make it so I would never go back just so I never have to experience that sales pitch again after dinner.

Has anyone ever experienced a good restaurant just to have it ruined by a sales pitch?  

Disney World

My husband and I decided to purchase annual passes to Disney this year since we will busy and most likely not able to travel too far from home.  We thought we could do several short visits and still feel like we'd had a break.  We went back in May and June to the annual Star Wars Weekends (yes, my husband is a geek).  We were able to attend twice and we had a very nice experience.  It was the grand reopening of the Star Tours ride and we were able to ride several times, definitely better than the old one.  It is in 3D and there are something like 50 different experiences so you most likely will have a different one every time you ride.  My 7 year old daughter was also able to participate in the Jedi Training camps, and she loved it.  We did have to get on line at 8:00 a.m. for a time ticket which was at 3:45 p.m., but it was worth it since she had a blast.

Overall, the Star Wars weekend was less than I expected.  I expected it to be throughout the park and it really was only in the section where Star Tours was, and I was expecting a full park experience.  The memorabilia was a bit cheesy in the sense that they set up a big tent out back and herd you in to buy full-priced merchandise that you can pretty much get any time of the year.  There are a few exclusives, and if you are a hard core Star Wars collector it may be worth it to complete a set or add to your collection.

Disney as a whole is less than it used to be expectation wise.  Price-wise it is more than it used to be!  I am not the type to pack sandwiches and sodas and sit on a bench and eat.  I want to experience the food while I am there and because of the inflated prices I expect it to be wonderful. I find the best place to eat lunch/dinner is Pecos Bill's Tall Tall Cafe in Magic Kingdom.  They have a self-serve bar that you can go to for your burger fixin's.  I think that because of the self-serve bar you feel like you are getting more for your money and I like that!

Where do you like to eat when you are in Disney?  Any place that you have found that is a true bargain on Disney property?

Why the "Bitchy" traveler?

Well, this is my first official blog and I wanted to explain the title a bit.  Not unlike most Americans today, I work very hard for my money so when I travel I hate when I waste money on crappy food in restaurants, or poor service in hotels.  I do not expect everything to be perfect all the time, however, I do want the value of my money to count. For example, I once spent the night at a $42.00 per night motel in Orlando, and guess what, no surprise I got what $42.00 buys, a gross room and some sort of sinus infection when I got home.  However, when I spend $250.00 on a room, I expect to get what they advertise and when I don't I get, well a bit pissed off.  I feel I am generally a nice person, and to be honest I do not complain to the hotel or restaurant, I just walk away and never return. Now I have this, if there is a time that I feel that I have been "short changed" with my experience I will put it here so that maybe someone else in the world will not have to waste their hard earned money on something that is less than wonderful.  In addition, when I find exceptional restaurants, hotels or businesses I will also share them with you, since that is the goal of my trips.

Jen