Family, travel, mom blog | Theme Park Mom (Leigh Caldwell)

Wow! You came back! I hope you find my site helpful. Please contact me if you have any suggestions or story ideas.

Busch Gardens Tampa Bay has a new Oasis Guest Lounge to cool off and relax during a day at the Florida theme park.

Have you ever just wanted a quiet place to cool off during a day at a theme park? Right now you’re saying, “Uh yeah, Leigh, like every. single. time.” So here’s the scoop on a new place at Busch Gardens Tampa Bay to get out of the sun and chill.

The Tampa theme park has built the Oasis Guest Lounge. It’s like an exclusive VIP room, but all of us non-VIPs out there can get in, for a price.

For the cost of $25 per person or $80 for a family of four, you can buy unlimited access to the Oasis Guest Lounge for the day.

The new Busch Gardens Tampa Bay lounge has comfy seats, air conditioning and a children’s play area that includes video game consoles. Soft drinks and some snacks are included with your ticket, and there are discounts on alcohol and lunch and dinner items. Some of the animals who live at Busch Gardens are brought into the lounge during the day for unique animal interactions.

Also? The lounge has Wi-fi, which probably has you asking, “Who brings their laptop to a theme park?” Theme park bloggers, that’s who! (And it also makes your iPhone, iTouch or Kindle usable if you aren’t lugging your lappy to the park.)

Now I know the Oasis Guest Lounge isn’t for everyone. There are some of you who want to see everything at Busch Gardens and are raring to go from the time the gates open until the last tram has left the parking lot.

But in the right situation, this seems like a wise purchase. For example, if you have young kids, the Oasis Guest Lounge might be the perfect place to rest your feet while they take a short nap.

You can get all the details and buy tickets for the Oasis Guest Lounge at the Busch Gardens Tampa Bay Web site.

Yellowfin Tuna Three Ways from the California Grill at Disney's Contemporary Resort. Disney is offering dining plans for free this fall.

Walt Disney World Resort is offering free dining when you stay on-property this fall.

If you book a vacation that includes a room at a Value Resort and park tickets, you will get Disney’s Quick Service Dining Plan for everyone in your party free. Each person on the free Quick Service Dining Plan gets:

• Two quick-service meals per night of your stay
• Two snacks per night of your stay
• A refillable mug to get unlimited soft drinks, coffee, etc. at your resort

This brings the price of a five-night Walt Disney World vacation down as low as $470 per adult (double occupancy). I am still in shock when I take advantage of Disney’s free dining deals and our trip includes free food.

I really like being able to limit my spending and know exactly what my costs are going to be by using the dining plan. It makes my Disney vacation more relaxed when I don’t have to constantly worry about how much money we are spending.

If you choose to stay at a moderate or deluxe resort at Walt Disney World, each person in your party will receive the Disney Dining Plan for free. Each person on the free Disney Dining Plan gets:

• One quick-service meal per night of your stay
• One table-service meal per night of your stay
• One snack per night of your stay

These packages are available most nights between Sept. 29, 2009 and Dec. 17, 2009.

If you’ve never been to Walt Disney World in the fall, you should give it a try. The weather is gorgeous, the afternoon thunderstorms that hit in the summertime are usually gone and the temperature and humidity drops. Crowds are much lighter, and there’s the EPCOT Food & Wine Festival to check out Sept. 25 – Nov. 8.

The hotels will fill up during these times, so the best way to book is to use a travel agency. The folks at Enchanted Destinations know the ins-and-outs of booking this Disney free dining deal, so I suggest contacting them.

The main dining times on a Disney Cruise can be hard to get, especially if you’ve decided to be spontaneous and book a last-minute cruise vacation. And that can cause a problem if you’re traveling with children, because your seating can be as late as 8:30 p.m., and cruise dinners happen at a leisurely place.

Disney Cruise Lines has introduced a Dine and Play option that will help your kids eat earlier. Here’s how it works:

• Dine and Play is available for kids ages 3 to 12.
• During second dining, tell your server that your children want to participate in Dine and Play.
• The child’s meal is brought first, while your dinner is brought out at a leisurely pace.
• About 45 minutes after second dining begins, Youth Activities Counselors come into the dining room to sign your child in for Disney’s Oceaneer Club and Disney’s Oceaneer Lab, and they escort them to Deck 5 so that you don’t have to leave the dining room.
• You continue your dinner (without hungry, tired kids).

Sounds like a great plan to me. Experienced Disney Cruise Line cruiser and travel agent Celeste Koutavas of Enchanted Destinations says she loves the new option, because dining times aboard Disney Cruise Line ships can be a challenge for her clients.

“It is so hard to get main dining, especially if a guest is booking their cruise late. And by late, I mean 6 months out!” Celeste says.

Disney Cruise Line’s new Dine and Play option is available in any of the main dining rooms on both the Disney Magic and the Disney Wonder.