SandraC ºoº FINAL NOTES, TIPS, REPORT ºoº

[SandraC]

DAY NINE was our official last Disney day. Our flight was at 10:45 am and we had to return our Hertz rented car (Ford Explorer ~ EXCELLENT CAR AND SERVICE AT HERTZ). We woke at 6 am, left CBR room at 7:15 am, drove by OPR for one last re-fill of coffee. While we were getting ready to go, dd was having a difficult time keeping it all together, she was pretty weepy that day too, didn't want to go. We kept reminding her that she'll see her cats soon! That seemed to work. I was fine, until I left the car for OPR, I burst into tears as I entered the food court. I hoped no one saw me, I think I was okay! I got in together and started believing my own mantra, "WE WILL RETURN, WE WILL RETURN!"

The rest of the day went as smooth as can be! Flight left on time, arrived early and our house didn't blow up while we were gone!

SO I thought I would write FINAL NOTES for you all!

MUST SEE/DO: Typhoon Lagoon (Shark Reef and Wave Pool especially), AK's Lion King Show, STAY ON SITE!

PACKING: I packed WAY too much. Next time I will pack like this: If we go for 8 days, I will pack 4 changes of clothes, 8 underwear and socks, one dress for the gals, wear long pants and jacket on the plane, one bathing suit, no towels, VERY COMFY SHOES THAT ARE BROKEN IN!

Laundry is not fun during vacation.

The grocery store at Crossroads was not as $$$$ as I expected (We loved the RAINBOW BREAD).

I packed way too much food, should have bought it in Florida.

If I think of more, I'll post here or other boards!


THANKS AGAIN! Namaste, Sandra

[Big V]

Good trip report. Thanks for writing it. :D

[MermaidMom]

I really enjoyed your trip reports, thanks for sharing!

Meredith :D

[Mickeygolf]

SandraC, Thanks so much for your reports. They were very insightful and informative.

You gave me a lot to think about for my upcoming trip...

:earsboy:

[dznynut]

Thanks for your great trip report! I know what you mean about those last day tears. I've shed a few in my day! What I hope will help me in the future is the fact that we recently joined DVC. Now I can always have a future trip in mind on my last day at WDW. Thanks again for your posts.:smooth:

[TimNDansMom]

I've enjoyed reading all your trip reports, Sandra. I know how you felt about going home. There is so much anticipation in planning a vacation like this and then it's over in a blink of an eye. While you're planning your next trip, you'll have your wonderful pictures, videos and memories to keep you company. :)

Hope to see you at the next DIS meet!

(BTW can you give me an idea of how long the drive was to Ormond Beach? Thanks.)

[Canadave]

Great reports SandraC. I really enjoyed reading them. How did your videotaping turn out? How was the quality of the new video camera? Anyway, I'm happy for you that you're planning your next trip already. We know exactly how you are feeling. We were only intending to go to WDW once, but it wasn't long after we returned home that we knew we HAD to go back!LOL
Canadave

[Tiger Fan]

Thanks for the great trip report. I read and enjoyed each installment.

Lisa

[SandraC]

TO JULIE: I will write you lots of details about the beach soon (I hope). The drive to the beach was long, as I thought it would be, because it was Friday afternoon and EVERYONE is going to the beach. It took 1.5 hours. But from the beach to WDW was FAST ~ seemed less than one hour and we enjoyed the drive. I love looking at the palm trees!

CANADAVE: We shot about 4 hours of tape and viewed about half that so far. Turned out good! I will edit it down to about 30 minutes like I did with the 1998 trip!

THANKS!

[Canadave]

Sorry to bug you again (re: video camera), but I really want to make sure we get a good camera this time. How was the quality (focus and lighting) on dark attractions (ie.Peter Pan, Haunted Mansion )? We compared our video from WDW to our friends who just got back and although I thought ours was pretty good, their video was so much crisper and better sound. I do know that the price of the camera doesn't necessarily have a great deal to do with the quality as much as the manufacturers and retailers try to make you think it is.:rolleyes: I caught your other post that you've set a date for your next trip. Congratulations! Addictive, ain't it:D !
Canadave

[SandraC]

Hi Canadave, no problem answering your question.

Our camera is a JVC Super VHS, it was about $600.00 at Sears. Model #GR-SXM330UC

The darkness question: yes dh said it was too dark in Peter Pan to tape. I would think Haunted Mansion would be too dark as well. We do have a light that we could have used but not allowed to at those attractions.

You'd want to use manual focus at night and for fireworks too.

Our video this time vs. 1998 to way better, glad we bought a new camera! We took about 4 hours. We just watched more tonight.

[TimNDansMom]

Thanks Sandra, I'll look forward to reading more about your time at the beach. Unless our plans change (I've left our post-Disney week flexible) we should be heading up Daytona way sometime on the Sunday evening. Hopefully everyone else will be heading *home* from Daytona by then. :D

[Snowwark]

Great trip, great reports! Thank you Sandra! :D

Think about trying out Port Orleans-Riverside on your next trip, I think you'll really like it there too!