"You're The Best Dad In The World" Christmas Trip Report (with pictures)

[The Disney Fanatic]

Disney Fanatics!

Yes, this is my first Trip Report and I hope I will not bore you too much. If it turns out to be 1/10 as good as Tokyodisneydad's TR I will consider this to be a great success. Also, please let me apologize in advance for not having great pictures. We took a bunch of pictures but a lot of them did not turn out that good. As a matter of fact, I had to borrow a few pics from some PROFESSIONAL photographers (that I give the credit to) to complete this TR. Well, here is the cast for my TR;

Me - 39 Year Old Disney Fanatic
DW -
DS8 - Star Wars Fanatic / Disney Fanatic
Topaz - 45 lbs. Female Dog (Huskie/Shephard Mixed)
Co-Coa - 65 lbs. Male Dog (Topaz's son)


Why are my dogs part of the cast? They are part of the cast because I can not began without a story about our dogs. Topaz gave birth to 9 puppies in February 2007. We kept one of the puppies after my son and wife out voted me ( I thought a DIS Dad's vote counted as 3 votes ). The puppy we kept is a male that my son named Co-Coa.

Fast forward now to October 2007 about 11 weeks away from our vacation. My DS8 was doing his homework in the dining room and noticed that Topaz and Co-Coa were doing something that he had never seen before. "Daddy why is Topaz giving Co-Coa a piggy back ride?" "What?" As I looked out of the sliding glass door to our back yard I screemed, " NO CO-COA!!! THAT'S YOUR MOMMY!!!!!! " Yes...my dogs, who are mommy and son, were ......uh ... doing mature doggy things.

As for now my DS8 thinks that the dogs were just giving each other piggy back rides and we will leave it at that. This DIS Dad is not quite ready for that talk yet.

Now what does all of this have to do with our Disney vacation? All I could think of at the time was that I just paid $$$$$$$$$$$$ for a WDW / Disney Cruise vacation and I was not going to be able to go because we were going to have a yard full of PUPPIES! There was no way that I could afford to give them all shots and put them in the kennel if we could not get rid of them all in time for our trip.

Now some of you may have had a simple solution to this dilema but it was seriously stressing me out. As it turned out Topaz did not have any puppies and both dogs were put into the pet resort for the duration of our trip. Oh, by the way, both dogs have appointments in the morning to be fixed.

Part 2 will be"The Announcement."

 

[Disneydd2]

You're off to a good start! I'm glad there are no more puppies.

 

[The Disney Fanatic]

When my DS was 6 years old, he and I were watching the Disney Cruise DVD and he became very excited. "Mommy...Daddy can we go on Mickey Mouse's Cruise Ship? Please, please, pleeeeeease?" "I'll tell ya what," my DW said. "We can go on a Disney Cruise when you turn 8 years old O.K.?"

YEEEAAAAAAA!!! My DS was so excited that he started dancing. He knew then and he knows now that when mommy or daddy makes a promise, we do everything within our power to keep that promise.

In December of 2007 we had a Star Wars themed birthday party for our DS who turned 7. We played laser tag, ate cake and ice cream, opened presents and then THE ANNOUNCEMENT came. "Thank you guys for my gifts and coming to my party...and next year we will have my birthday party on the Disney Cruise Ship!" All of the kids and I started dancing while all the adults in a melodic chorus said, "What?"

(My brother, my Mom, DS, DW, and Me at the Star Wars Birthday Party)

I looked at my DW and asked her if she remembered the promise we made to him that when he turned 8 we would go on a Disney Cruise. Now, every since I was a kid I wanted to see the Christmas decorations at WDW. I figured since we would be in Florida in December to go on the Disney Cruise that we might as well go to WDW for a few days too. I asked DW what she thought and before she could get any words out of her mouth I began planning with all the relatives and friends at the party.

This was going to be the most fun! I had just planned our family reunion in WDW (see us in my avatar) and now this!

Next we fast forward to day 1 of WDW / Disney Cruise Trip 2007 and The Airport Surprise!

 

[tokyodisneydad]

I'm on board and ready for the ride!!

 

[The Disney Fanatic]

As I think back about our trip I remember day 1 feeling like two days. That might be because I only had about three hours of sleep. I was too excited to sleep!

We arrived at the Raleigh/Durham Airport at 6:30am and passed through airport security with no hitches. As we sat waiting to board our VERY SMALL Delta Jet I told my DW and DS that I had a surprise waiting for them in Florida. "What is it daddy? Tell us, tell us!" "Oh, it's just a litte something to let you guys know that you are special and that I love you," I answered. Plus, it was my son's 8th birthday celebration and none of the friends and family that we invited came with us for one reason or another. I had to make the little guy feel special. "Let's go. It's time for us to board the plane."

DS and I before getting off of the plane in Orlando December 18, 2007.

DW and DS before getting off of the plane in Orlando.

"We're finally here!" The adrenalin rush from being excited kicked in to over ride being sleepy. DW was excited too and began to thank me for the vacation and we were not even out of the airtport yet.

Monorail ride to baggage claim area.

We stepped off of the monorail system and shopping fever hit my DW as soon as we saw all of the airport shops. "No baby we don't have time for that right now. I have a surprise for you and DS." We took the escalator down to baggage claim and what did we see? "Hey daddy that man has the same last name that we have." "That guy is our driver son." "You got us a limo honey?" After I gave myself a big pat on the back we picked up our bags and we were off to our chariot which was waiting for us outside.

(If you look real close you can see my DW and DS being showered with Pixie Dust We were escorted to Disney World By Tinkerbell !)

Up next...Day 1 continued at Magic Kingdom!

 

[Illuminations06]

great trip report so far!! there's no better feeling in the world then stepping out into the florida sunshine and knowing that your next stop is disney!!!!!!

 

[The Disney Fanatic]

We arrived at the Animal Kingdom Lodge in our limo and I did not get the reception that I expected. I thought that when we pulled up people would stop and stare at the limo and try to figure out who were the famous or important people in there. I guess people don't do that anymore or maybe it's just because I'm not that important .

Anyway, this is where I must throw in another apology because none of our arriving photos came out that good. I am still kicking myself for not bringing the video camera and not purchasing a digital camera before we left NC. The Animal Kingdom lodge was breath taking all dressed up in it's Christmas holiday attire. I had to take five minutes just to stare at the Christmas tree in the lobby before we checked in. It was stunning. The AKL lobby is beautiful all by itself and to add the Christmas tree to it was just amazing.

By now we are all grinning from ear to ear and swimming in pixie dust. I have wanted to see Disney Christmas decorations every since I was my DS's age. Now I am right in the middle of all the Disney Magic with my beautiful family and the Christmas celebration was an added bonus.

Oh yeah, it was my DS's 8th birthday celebration but the upcoming Disney Cruise was his birthday present. But then I hear, "Daddy, you're the best daddy in the whole world! I love you!" He gave me the most sincere hug and I fought back the tears so that nobody would notice a big 300 pound man crying. "Oh no, we are going to celebrate his birthday the whole trip! Excuse me Miss, but do you all have any birthday buttons that my son can wear while he is here? We are celebrating his birthday!" The lady behind the check in counter asked what his name was and gave him a big birthday button with his name on it. All the cast members recognized the button and treated him like royalty.

We didn't even unpack after we checked in and went to our room. We just slung the bags in the room and broke the glass in the sliding glass door to the balcony! "Oh no! Did any animals get hurt? We are going to get kicked out of Disney World!" O.K. it wasn't quite like that. We had food that we bought from the grocery store that our limo driver allowed us to stop at before arriving at AKL (we didn't get that Star treatment reception there either). We took time to eat and refresh ourselves. As you will see from the food stains in the pics below on my shirt and my DS's shirt that we ate pretty good!

Now we were off to Magic Kingdom via the Disney bus system. I heard people complaning about the buses at the AKL but we had no problems and we were there during a pretty busy time of the year. We waited no more than 15-20 minutes for any bus.

When our bus passed under the Magic Kingdom signage my DS was grinning and singing and we were giving each other high 5s. Once we entered Magic Kingdom we soaked up the moment by using our Photo Pass to take pictures.

(That's not grey hair on my head. That's some pixie dust that I needed to brush away.....Yeah..right! )

My DS took this picture while he was sitting on my shoulders.

After we took a few pictures we tried to do everything that we were not able to do our last trip. We went to the Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor and loved it! My Ds still talks about that (along with thanking me everyday for the best birthday present ever and telling me that I'm the best daddy in the world ). Before we went to eat at O'Hanas at the Poly we rode the Magic Carpet ride! This is my DS's favorite ride. It was even more special this time because the fire works were going off while we were riding. It felt like we had the best seat in the park for the show riding the Magic Carpet ride.

We went to eat at O'Hanas before the Mickey's Very Merry Christmas party began. Let me tell all of you something now....that was one of the best meals of our entire vacation!!!! I know that the place received some bad reviews from Kevin on the DIS Unplugged Pod Cast but we really enjoyed it. The steaks that came off of the skewers were tender and flavorful. The appetizers were plentiful and yummy. The atmosphere was very family / kid oriented and was not loud and annoying at all. As a matter of fact a wedding party was having their wedding reception in the back part of the restaurant. We LOVE O"HANAS and can't wait to go back!!!!!!!!!!!!

MVMCP was simply awesome! I saw the Christmas parade on Samantha Brown's show and could not wait to see the toy soldiers. When I saw them I literally felt like I was 8 years old again.

(Toy Soldiers, Goofy, and Santa Claus Photos Courtesy of Linda Mac at http://allearsnet.com/tp/mk/holidays07/christmastimeparade.htm)

My DS was sitting on my shoulders yelling and trying to get Goofy's attention and Santa Claus' attention.

​

This was a tear jerking moment for me. By now I couldn't hide the fact that I was tearing up and just let them flow. My DW seemed to think that it was touching and just smiled and kept dancing. She knew that I was in my happy place and let me enjoy the moment.

Sorry, no pics of the party but the ones I borrowed above. They all came out to dark. If anybody was at the MVMCP on December 18, 2007 and has pictures could you please post them here? We all would love to see them! Stay tuned for Day 2 at Animal Kingdom!

 

[The Disney Fanatic]

great trip report so far!! there's no better feeling in the world then stepping out into the florida sunshine and knowing that your next stop is disney!!!!!!

That moment of the vacation is a great feeling!

 

[IATink]

Wow! What a great birthday present! I can't wait to read more. We are celebrating my DD's 6th birthday in June so I'm interested to hear the special things you did!

 

[The Disney Fanatic]

Wow! What a great birthday present! I can't wait to read more. We are celebrating my DD's 6th birthday in June so I'm interested to hear the special things you did!

Be sure to ask for the Birthday button with your DD's name on it. It's free and all of the cast members recognize it. They will sing , say happy birthday, and do many things to make your DD feel very special.

 

[The Disney Fanatic]

I'm on board and ready for the ride!!

The master TR writer is on board!!!!!! I'll be sure to be at my best. Let me get some coffee and get started again

 

[Disneydd2]

Keep up the good work!

 

[mickeysmyboy]

What a great report! I love your pictures! You guys are so cute!

 

[The Disney Fanatic]

What a great report! I love your pictures! You guys are so cute!

Well, my wife and son are the cute ones but thanks for the compliment.

 

[tokyodisneydad]

Christmas is the greatest time to be in the parks even if it is the most crowded. Love the Pixie dust in the hair I'm lucky not to have gray on top yet. I think if I used the pixie dust excuse for the gray chest hairs, my wife might get jealous of Tinkerbell.

By the way Valentine's day at Disney SEA was great and I'm going to start a combo Halloween and Valentine's day TR soon. I have tons of pictures from both parks for those days.

 

[winkers]

I'm sure you already know this, but you wife is Gorgeous!

 

[Loriann70]

Great Start! Great Pictures! What a lovely family! Thanks for sharing. Looking forward to reading more! Keep it coming!

 

[Native NYer]

Loving your TR so far . You have such a lovely family! Can't wait to read more.

 

[le9397]

Your trip report is very endearing and entertaining! Thank you for sharing your trip with us.

 

[The Disney Fanatic]

Christmas is the greatest time to be in the parks even if it is the most crowded. Love the Pixie dust in the hair I'm lucky not to have gray on top yet. I think if I used the pixie dust excuse for the gray chest hairs, my wife might get jealous of Tinkerbell.

By the way Valentine's day at Disney SEA was great and I'm going to start a combo Halloween and Valentine's day TR soon. I have tons of pictures from both parks for those days.

I can't wait to see your pics and to read your TR. I am really intrigued with Disney Sea!