It is never easy for kids to move… at least it isn’t after about the time they start walking… but we don’t have to make it tougher.
Of course, as with many things in life, there are two distinct schools of thought…
Tag Archives: life at home
Best Time to Move With Kids
- Wednesday, 09 October 2013 10:10
- Written by Lane Bailey
- 0 Comments
Empty Theme Parks…
- Monday, 11 March 2013 10:00
- Written by Lane Bailey
- 0 Comments
My family just got back from its (almost) annual trip to Walt Disney World in Florida. It was a marvelous trip… as always… and we had a wonderful time. Each year, we have VERY high expectations for the trip and for the service we’ll receive from the cast members at Disney. We usually stay “on-property”, and this time it was at the Kidani House section of Animal Kingdom Lodge. Last year we stayed at Jambo House – Animal Kingdom Lodge.
Betty White Tour – Stop #5 (Walt Disney Studios) (Photo credit: Loren Javier)
The reason I bring that up is that, while we go with high expectations of guest services, each year they manage to find some way to exceed our expectations. This year was no exception… One of the unexpected little treats was at the Grand Floridian. We usually take a day to visit some of the different resorts to see where we might want to stay in the future, search for “Hidden Mickeys” and just relax a little. While visiting the Grand Floridian, my younger son asked if we could go to the top floor of the main building to look down into the atrium. When we got to the elevators, we figured out the the top 3 floors were all Concierge level and there was no access for non-guests of the Concierge level. But, one of the cast members who happened to be getting off of the elevator asked if we needed assistance. When my 4 year old told him what we wanted to do, he escorted us to the 5th floor and proceeded to tell us all sorts of interesting facts about the resort, hidden Mickeys and other Disney trivia.
That wasn’t our only experience… but it illustrates the ability of Disney’s staff to take it upon themselves to do “just a little more than expected” to give their customers a better experience…
View of main lobby from second floor balcony. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
But the actual reason for the post…
I used to work for Busch Gardens in Williamsburg, VA when I was WAY younger. And ever since, I can’t help but think back to that experience while walking through a theme park. One of my favorite things about working at the park was being there after it closed. One of the jobs I had kept me in the park as much as two hours after closing… and all of the guests would be cleared, as well as many of the other employees.
Walking through an empty theme park is quite enjoyable. The park is clean, quiet and there is no jostling or crowds. It might be a false reality… I wasn’t really walking through a Bavarian village of two centuries ago, or New France… but it was much different than walking in most other places… and it was REALLY quiet. It was almost eery, but not in a bad way. Maybe unexpected is a better word.
Working in a theme park is a fun experience for a young adult. There are a lot of things that happen that make for fun stories later… the people that you encounter, strange weather and even a different kind of work ethic. It is quite entertaining and even possibly enriching.
Related articles
Wayback Wednesday… Walking in Lilburn
- Wednesday, 07 March 2012 08:00
- Written by Lane Bailey
- 0 Comments
Lilburn City Park has been expanding. Last year I wrote about the extension of the walking trails from Lilburn City Park going out to Killian Hill Road. There are actually two spurs, both ending at different points on Killian Hill Road. The older trail runs from the park to Rockbridge Road.
Both trails are quite nice, with boardwalks in a few spots, paved on the remainder. Whether you are walking, jogging or biking, there is plenty of room.
Here is the link to last year’s post, as well as a few pictures from the trail.
Related articles
- Lilburn, GA Market Report, January 2012 (lanebailey.com)
- Lilburn, GA Market Report, December 2011 (lanebailey.com)
Wayback Wednesday… Great Schools = Great Tool
- Wednesday, 22 February 2012 08:00
- Written by Lane Bailey
- 0 Comments
Image via Wikipedia
Last year I had a quick little post about one of the tools that is easily available to everyone… for free. And we like free tools. Since I posted that, we’ve moved. And just like I counsel prospective buyers, we spent a LOT of time looking through GreatSchools.org to find out about the schools in the areas we were looking. We eliminated a lot of houses because we weren’t sold on the schools.
Even if you don’t have kids, schools are an important consideration. When it comes time to sell, a prospective buyer might have school age children… and if the schools in your area have a top rating, there will be more demand in the area. If the schools are bad, less demand and lower prices. Of course, keep in mind that schools move up and down in the ratings all of the time. Also keep in mind that “Your Mileage May Vary” on schools… a great teaching in an average school might work out better than a crappy teacher in a top-notch school. And school boundaries change over time as demographics shift and schools are built and closed.
Gwinnett County has a pretty good school system compared to others in the Atlanta area. And within Gwinnett, there are a few clusters (we organize schools based on what high school they will feed to) that out-perform. And within those clusters, there are some middle schools and elementary schools that out-perform others in the same cluster.
My best piece of advice is that #1 isn’t the thing to focus on. Focus on long term trends for the school and the area. Schools pop in and out of the #1 spot all of the time, but there always seems to be a core group of schools that are near the top. When you are looking at having kids in school for the next 14 years (our situation), looking past this year’s #1 and seeing schools that have decades in the top tier becomes more important.
Related articles
- Wayback Wednesday… REOs and Credit Pulls (lanebailey.com)
Wayback Wednesday… The Dad Seminar.
- Wednesday, 28 December 2011 08:00
- Written by Lane Bailey
- 1 Comment
Let me start by saying Thank You to my Dad. I miss him just about every day, and I had NO idea how much he did, hid, put up with and shouldered… without ever saying a word.
Last year I wrote a post about our last trip to Disney World… specifically about the “rolling dad Seminar” that I was able to engage in.
“Rolling Dad Seminar, you say?”
You have to check out the post to see the details, but the short version is that there seemed to be a lot of clearly defined “Dad Duties” in the parks. And I watched Dad after Dad performing these tasks… sometimes I was right along-side, performing the same tasks for my family. And while we were engaged in the “wait” portion of “hurry up and wait”, I talked with a few other Dads… and it was a LOT of fun.
We talked about vacations, family, cars (of course), work, rides… ALL kinds of stuff. One of the funniest things that happened was a “walking-by high-five” with a Dad I met in a ride line. He’d managed to score some prime Fast Passes for a show with a VERY long wait. My wife raised an eyebrow as I walked by the stranger and just high-fived him.
There are a few other little tidbits you might catch in the original post…