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Any fall/winter vacation plans for this year?

You see that A-Basin opened today? The line was pretty crazy.

No I did not, holy cow. Open for season or just to take advantage of the recent snow? We went camping last weekend and it was perfect. zero snow and we were 2.5 hours south of A-basin. Crazy CO weather and geography.
 
I’ve been to all of those dinner shows plus La Nouba and Capones. Of those I’d say I enjoyed Blue Man Group ever so slightly more than the rest but Medieval Times is definitely a close second. For adults I think you would enjoy Blue Man Group better for kiddos Medieval Time BUT the Blue Man Group is definitely kid friendly. Lots of interactive things going on during the show, lots of cool/gross things like spitting paintballs and catching 100 marshmallows in their mouth to go with some really neat music. Moreover, as a Universal preferred annual pass holder I get 20% off Blue Man Group and it doesn’t have to be for me. If your interested I’ll give you my spam email account info and you can use my preferred number to save on the tickets if you do decide on Blue Man Group. I don’t have any discounts on the other dinner shows (except the pretty nice Luau at Royal Pacific in Universal. That’s absolutely awesome for adults (honestly I thought the Kalua pig was better there than the two Luaus I did in Hawaii including the famous one at the Polynesian Cultural Center in Oahu) but especially if you have small kids they’d probably enjoy the entertainment elsewhere.

As far as Cabana Bay if you haven’t stayed before you need to know a couple of things. 1) The Tubes for the lazy river are not free so make sure you bring a CC to pay for those and your drinks. 2) The bar next to the main swimming pool called Atomic Tonic makes really good 1950s/1960s style daiquiris but DONT get the one with jalapeño, it’s too overpowering in the daiquiri so that grassy/herby flavor is all you can taste, it would have been miles better with a fruity pepper like habanero. 3) The Swizzle Lounge located where you check in does GREAT 1950s/1960s era sophisticated cocktails but it has really limited hours. Definitely worth a stop though.

And when you come back, I do like Cabana Bay and Sapphire Falls quite a bit, but Royal Pacific and especially Portofino are worth the upgrade. If I was “doing the Resort” I’d go with the pricier options, it is really worth it. But I stay at Cabana Bay when I want to drink that night and therefore want to stay “on campus” without driving but don’t want to take advantage of much of the Resort. (Aka I usually stay there everytime I go to HHN).
Thanks for all the info. How was the food at Medieval Times? And any how bout the food at the hotel or at CityWalk if you have any recommendations. I will let you know if we decide to do the blue man group. Is that 20% off the Florida rate or regular rate? Also would you say it is worth it to pay extra for tier 1 seats vs the tier 2 seats?
 
I might even see you who knows as we will be in Utah for a tiny bit. I’m leaving the middle of next to fly into Phoenix. Then we’re going to do the Sonoita and Willcox AVA plus spend some time in Tombstone and at the Casino Del Sol. Then up to the Verde Valley AVA, Sedona and then brewery tasting plus the observatory in Flagstaff. Then we’re doing Monument Valley, cutting over to Lake Powell to do a cruise plus some hiking around Antelope and Glen Canyons. Then we’re doing the North Rim of the Grand Canyon and maybe some other sights in the SE most tip of Utah. Then heading back to Phoenix to fly out.

Any suggestions for Lake Powell, Monument Valley and/or the North Rim? Such as restaurants, hotels, nearby daytrips not to be missed etc...? I’ve the Big 5 in Utah plus Goblin Valley, Pink Sand Dunes, the Staircase, Dead Horse (Valley?) and done all of the GC except North Rim before.
Where are you staying in PHX? (If you are staying in phoenix). I can give you a boatload of good recs for downtown/midtown, this area is getting pretty great.

Also, if you don’t mind waiting 90 minutes for BBQ, check out Little Miss BBQ while here. Top 3 all time for me, and I eat a lot of BBQ. And don’t just take my word for it - 5 stars on yelp with 1300 reviews.

https://www.yelp.com/biz/little-miss-bbq-phoenix-2
 
Thanks for all the info. How was the food at Medieval Times? And any how bout the food at the hotel or at CityWalk if you have any recommendations. I will let you know if we decide to do the blue man group. Is that 20% off the Florida rate or regular rate? Also would you say it is worth it to pay extra for tier 1 seats vs the tier 2 seats?

The food at Medieval Times is decent. It’s not going to blow your mind but it’s perfectly fine. The soup is on par with any decent canned variety. The roasted chicken is on par with Publix rotisserie (which is fine, I get them about once or twice a month). Everytime I went you also got a BBQed Spare Rib which was on par with a place like Chilis but from what I read they axed the spare rib for cost reasons. Everything else is on par with what you would get at a fern bar. If you think your kids will enjoy the jousting (which is “real”) and choreographed fake fighting then it’s worth eating mediocre food.

As far as the Blue Man Group discount I think it’s 20% off the standard rate. As far as whether the extra priced tickets are worth it, meh. It’s a relatively small theater (on par with Cirques Zumanity not O or if you haven’t been to Vegas on par with a Broadway play theater with big names but like the 1200 seat Lincoln Center Theater where I saw Nathan Lane’s the Nance not the 2000 seat Gershwin Theater where I saw Wicked) so your sightlines even in the worst seat isn’t bad at all. And everything they do on stage is “Big” so you’re probably ok getting the cheaper tickets.

I haven’t eaten at Cabana Bay, but I’ve eaten almost everywhere (I haven’t been to the NBC Sports Bar but have been to everything else) at City Walk. My two favorite restaurants there are Vivo (a surprisingly good Italian restaurant, in particular I love the seafood with squid ink pasta but all of the dishes we’ve had there have been great) and Antojitos (a quite good authentic Mexican restaurant especially the Queso fundido and mole enchiladas with a huge tequila list and really nice entertainment in the form of mariachi bands playing modern American pop songs). But there’s actually a fair amount of other great choices. Bob Marley is a pretty decent Jamaican place with some of the best fried yucca I’ve had. Cowfish is a really good (the original is usually rated one of the top places in Charlotte) mix of burgers and sushi, it’s not the best sushi I’ve had but it’s better than anything in Tally and most places in Florida. Red Oven is a really solid high end Pizza place. And maybe most surprisingly Toothsome Chocolate Emporium has REALLY good food to go with its amazing lineup of desserts. The alcoholic and plain shakes are enormous and all of the macaroons and other desserts are worthwhile but their Savory dishes are quite good especially their mushroom flatbread and the chicken mole gnocchi (sounds terrible, was absolutely delicious) and they have all day brunch/breakfast items as well. The only places I would stay away from is Hard Rock Cafe (standard fern bar fare), Bubba Gump Shrimp (worse than Red Lobster imo), the main Emerils (overpriced foodie food that has not been that great when I’ve been there, but the Emeril owned Tchoup Chop at the Royal Pacific Resort on campus has been excellent), Hot Dog Hall of Fame (I absolutely WANTED to love it and it’s a cool looking little restaurant but the dogs simply aren’t that good) and Margaritaville (standard fern bar food that’s uninteresting but the margaritas you can grab at the to go window or the outside little bar with the plane coming out of it are fine).
 
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Portsmouth, NH and Uncasville, CT before the BC game. Austin and Dallas for Thanksgiving. Home for Christmas but Tucson in early January.
 
Where are you staying in PHX? (If you are staying in phoenix). I can give you a boatload of good recs for downtown/midtown, this area is getting pretty great.

Also, if you don’t mind waiting 90 minutes for BBQ, check out Little Miss BBQ while here. Top 3 all time for me, and I eat a lot of BBQ. And don’t just take my word for it - 5 stars on yelp with 1300 reviews.

https://www.yelp.com/biz/little-miss-bbq-phoenix-2

The first night we’re staying in the Sheraton Grand at Wild Horse Pass because we’ll be eating at Kai and I decided we’d be tired after a day drinking around Sonoita and Willcox. I haven’t booked the return hotel stay yet.

I hadn’t planned on doing BBQ (we wanted to do Kai, Frybread House and....brainfreeze I can’t remember the name and I’m too lazy to look it up now but the highly rated pizza place) but I have been “collecting” highly rated BBQ places around the country so that may be tempting to drop the pizza place for the BBQ. What I definitely could use rec s on is 1 or 2 recs for good quality Arizona-Mexican breakfast joints. I never get huevos rancheros, chilaquiles, breakfast burritos etc... in Florida as it’s usually terrible but I love it in New Mexico, Arizona, Texas etc...
 
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Thanks for all the info. How was the food at Medieval Times? And any how bout the food at the hotel or at CityWalk if you have any recommendations. I will let you know if we decide to do the blue man group. Is that 20% off the Florida rate or regular rate? Also would you say it is worth it to pay extra for tier 1 seats vs the tier 2 seats?
I went to Medieval times many years ago and Blue Man Group in Boston earlier this year. Of the two, I'd pick Blue Man. The food at Medieval was meh.
 
The wife is playing tennis in Mobile, AL later in the month (nationals for 7.0 ladies) . Gonna head over after the Louisville game to bring her back. Staying on pcola beach at a friend of a friend's house.

For Christmas, our youngest has a friend whose mom is a big todo in the Navy and has invited us to DC to stay in what I have to assume is a massive house. The one they lived in at NASJAX was very nice and even had a separate guest house.
 
Mississippi home grown not good enough for you?
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Where are you staying in PHX? (If you are staying in phoenix). I can give you a boatload of good recs for downtown/midtown, this area is getting pretty great.

Also, if you don’t mind waiting 90 minutes for BBQ, check out Little Miss BBQ while here. Top 3 all time for me, and I eat a lot of BBQ. And don’t just take my word for it - 5 stars on yelp with 1300 reviews.

https://www.yelp.com/biz/little-miss-bbq-phoenix-2

So a couple of followup questions.

1) At Little Miss since they’re trying to be an Austin style place have the locals started doing the incredibly stupid thing of camping out for 2-4 hours ahead of time. I don’t understand it, I’ve been to amazing bbq places all over the country and the wait was never longer than an hour at most even in Texas spots outside of Austin, but in Austin they will wait half a day for bbq. It looks like I can fit it in on Tues but it’s cutting close to my flight time I’ll need to duck in and duck out within an hour.

2) Any suggestions for late night Phoenix food, I’ll be arriving at 11pm.

3) Any suggestions for early morning Mexican breakfast spots in Phoenix, Tucson, Page and/or the large area around Mexican Hat?

4) Any food suggestions while I’m in or right before the Navajo reservation?
 
Going to Dallas in mid-November, but it's work-related with a little pleasure mixed in. Still debating whether to do a ski trip this year.
 
I'm going to Boston next week, but is going on there. Every hotel room in the city is ridiculous. The Ritz was the cheapest at 450 per night.
 
I'm going to Boston next week, but is going on there. Every hotel room in the city is ridiculous. The Ritz was the cheapest at 450 per night.
Not sure of anything specific but Boston is always pretty expensive. Will you be there for the FSU game Friday night?
 
I'm going to Boston next week, but is going on there. Every hotel room in the city is ridiculous. The Ritz was the cheapest at 450 per night.
I was curious, so I called the Westin Copley Place, which is where I've stayed when I've been to Boston. The last time I was there was maybe 6-7 years ago, but the hotel was $250-$300/night, but it was coming up at $599 per night next week. The woman at the hotel said that there was nothing big going on, and that price was just "normal" now. She said it was more than that for tonight. I guess maybe I'll never go to Boston again - it's a nice city, but not $600/night nice.
 
I was chatting with someone who recently moved from NYC to Boston. They described Boston as "NYC prices but without all the cool stuff."
 
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Hi, Zeke. Arrived in Bayeux earlier today.
Awesome. The wife and I have never been. Let me know if you have any tips or recommendations once you get back. We plan on staying in Bayeux a few days and just driving to Mont St. Michele and along the Normady Beaches before heading to Paris for 4-5 days to explore and see the sites.
 
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Awesome. The wife and I have never been. Let me know if you have any tips or recommendations once you get back. We plan on staying in Bayeux a few days and just driving to Mont St. Michele and along the Normady Beaches before heading to Paris for 4-5 days to explore and see the sites.

No problem at all. I will respond to this thread or just please remind me after 29 OCT.
 
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