It's getting to be that time of year. We're preparing for our trip(s) this summer while Ari is out of school. She starts kindergarten in September so that will be more of a reality starting then. This year we did take her out for a week for our Walt Disney World trip but it gets harder from here. Then in a few years, Lily will be in school too... But getting back to vacation.
We're planning a trip to Virginia. That'll be our big trip this year. We don't have the time to take our usual South Carolina trip as well, so this will be our only extended time off other than surgery days. We will be staying in Williamsburg. We traded out our timeshare for a week in a resort. Our current plans have us driving to Virginia Beach for one day and spending a few days in Busch Gardens. It's amazing how much cheaper it is to go to Busch Gardens than Disney. For $70 per person (Lily is free) we each get a pass that is good through the end of the summer, so if we wanted to do a weekend trip we wouldn't need to pay for park tickets. I'll probably upgrade my ticket to a season pass (another $50, $120 total) which will give us free parking and discounts in the park. So, for the four of us, with one season pass it will cost $260 which is less than the cost of one 7 day pass at WDW. Not that you can directly compare the two, but Busch Gardens is still a fun, beautiful park and only around 3 hours from home. I'm guessing we'll get about 4 days in there depending on how tired everyone is. Other than that we can relax at the resort.
Of course with going to another theme park, my research is starting on how we can best meet Ari's needs while we are there. Busch Gardens is much harder to find info on since there are not nearly as many resources, but if I need to I'll just call down there and talk to someone for a while to get all the info I need. Height requirements and ride intensity are easy to find, but will they allow Ari to have a stroller in line like Disney did. How about places in the park to relax (even if it's at a show). Speaking of shows, but loud or scary are the shows. Ari can be really noise sensory at times, but she does usually enjoy a good show with lots of music. The one good thing it that there is just one park so there isn't nearly as much information to research.
Another good thing about this summer is that we have no surgeries to worry about. Her doctor doesn't want to schedule the next one until at least October!
