July Trip Sprinkled Pixie Dust: Twins, Minivan & DVC 10/4 - The last day!

[disneydreamingdebby]

...and the cursor sent morse code as she tried to think of the title for her trip report... Just write, just write, just write!

Welcome! I am unsure just how this trip report will unfold, but I promise to include pictures and fond memories of our favorite place!

If you want to know about our planning for this trip, here is our Pre-trip Report: The July Plan needs Pixie Dust: DVC, Minivan and Twins already included.

To begin, let me introduce us:

Me and DH (at SIL's wedding last year)


Eight-Year-Old Twins (soccer game from June)

We drove to the World from Pennsylvania. We began our journey on July 11 and arrived safely back home on July 22. It was our first DVC trip and we stayed at three different DVC villa studios:

First,


Next,


Ending with,



To get to know us a bit better, please visit my PTR- The July Plan Needs Pixie Dust: DVC, Minivan, and Twins Already Included

Thanks for joining in! Please post and say hi! I look forward to answering any questions or simply chatting along the way!

Coming up: It's time to leave for the World!!!

 

[disneydreamingdebby]

*July 11th - It's Time to Leave for the World (7/26 update)
*July 12th - Arrival Day (7/27 update)
*July 12th - Arrival Afternoon (7/28 update)
*July 13th - Magic Kingdom on our 14th Anniversary (7/29 update)
*July 14th - I changed the plan???!!!
*July 14th - a relaxing evening at HS/ dinner at Sci Fi
*July 14th - Join me for a Great Movie Ride and a few others
*July 15th - the day that got away
Continued
*July 15th - An MK Evening Surprise...
*July 16th - Moving Day 1 to BCV
*And it is our first time in Epcot of the trip!!!
*July 16th MK EMH - eight year olds out until 4???
*Pictures of MK at 3 am

*Day 7 -Garden Grill - Day 7 still...
Beaches and Cream - KITCHEN SINK
*Day 8 - BWV!

 

[Charleston Princess]

Here!!!

 

[onescgirl]

Can't wait to read about your trip! Hope ya'll had a great time!

 

[Queenofallthings]

Looking forward to following along

 

[ljcrochet]

Can't wait to hear all about your trip including the drive down and back.

 

[catho72]

Can't wait to hear about your trip!

 

[mermaid764]

Can't wait to follow along

 

[disneydreamingdebby]

Here!!!

and Jackie, you're first!

Can't wait to read about your trip! Hope ya'll had a great time!

Welcome! We had a great time! Thanks for reading!

Looking forward to following along

Hello! I hope you enjoy!

Can't wait to hear all about your trip including the drive down and back.

Happy you're joining me! Details about the drive to follow...

Can't wait to hear about your trip!

Thanks; it was a lot of fun!

Can't wait to follow along

Welcome!!

 

[disney<333]

Joining in!

 

[belle8306]

Welcome back! I can't wait to hear about all of your adventures!

 

[taymacsmom]

Here I am. I made page 1 at least. Can't wait to hear all about it!

Kelly

 

[addictedtothemouse]

Can't wait to read all about your trip.

 

[disneydreamingdebby]

Quick background for our departing choice for those who didn't read my PTR. My father was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer (started in the pancreas) in March. We orginally planned on leaving July 10 (Sat.) when DH came home from work. Since July 14th is my dad's bday, I asked my mom to have his party on 7/11, with the plan to leave after the party.

Sunday morning was quite relaxed. I had everything packed except for toiletries. (On Saturday the girls and I went to a wedding, so we had ourselves occupied until 10 pm.) Late Sat. night, I had decorated the van's back window the night before to show SRUAlmn a Mickey head idea I saw in someone else's trip report.

Mine looks like a bear!


When my girls saw this they wanted to write on the other windows. Around 11:30 am, we headed to the party. We stopped for gas and cleaned all except these two gems (my back window Mickey bear didn't survive!)





So, after a birthday party for my dad and some discussion about our road trip, it was finally time to hit the road! We departed at 3:25 pm. My plan was to drive us through PA, DE, MD, and possibly VA while DH slept. (Since we live near the PA/ DE border, and my parents live even closer and DE is so small, two of these states really shouldn't count - )




Here is a shot I took of myself!



We hit the DE border at 3:35; Maryland Border at 4:02;Balt tunnel at 5:00 and the VA border at 5:50. We stopped for a bathroom break and gas for 10 min. and I kept going. Around 7:30 we stopped for a picnic dinner near Petersburg.




It was around 9:30 that we hit the N.C. border. Around 10 pm, I decided that I could use a driving break and turned the wheel over to DH. He had tried to sleep- spread out on the floor:



but two eight year olds traveling to Disney tend to be a bit noisy for one who is trying to force sleep.

Speaking of the eight year olds, what were they up to? I read about a family who paid their children $1 for each hour they didn't say, "Are we there yet?" I added arguing, fighting and general bad behaviors to this. My girls paid attention to the clock to determine how much money they were making. Also, I had packed little gifts to give them along the way. I started them out with new eraseable colored pencils (Clearance $1.87) and a license plate game print out. They did this, listened to their iPods, talked to each other, etc. The next gift was a travel journal and zebra patterned pen (Michaels $1 each). Last gift was binoculars (ordered online for maybe $5 each...) for them to use at AKL.

We hit Rocky Mt at 10:15pm, and spun around South of the Border at 12:30 am. I tried to wake them to no avail. DH and I decided that it would be better to stop on the way home anyway. So right after we exited, we jumped right back on 95.

Around 2:30 maybe, DH pulled into a gas station for me to get coffee and take over driving. When I went to get my coffee, I asked the clerk which pot was most recently made. He explained (and seemed offended) that all of the coffee was just made. I thanked him, got some (it didn't taste good at all) and when I was paying, he reiterated that the coffee was fresh. He explained that he isn't allowed to have stale coffee. Again, I thanked him and joked saying that I don't even really know how long it takes for coffee to go stale. He didn't joke back though.



We hit Georgia at 3:48 am. A stop worth noting is the Goasis - exit 29. The girls and I were impressed by the fancy restrooms.


This was what each stall looked like and there were four or five of them:



Then, dh asked if we saw the family restroom...





I know the clerk must have thought we were a riot. It is the wee hours of the morning and here are these crazy Northerners taking restroom shots... haha

Then, Em found a sign that we were closer to Disney. Look inside of the claw game!



I think I turned driving back over to dh around 5. I dozed on and off, but was awake when we hit Florida at 5:54 am.


We stopped for breakfast at a McDonalds and ate in the car because we were getting close!

First sight to tell me we are close!


and closer


finally!



As we pull into the Animal Kingdom Lodge area, DH is finally showing a little excitement



I imagine you are thinking, that's excited? But yes, my friends, I see a twinkle in my rather reserved husband's eye!

And at 9:25 am, 18 hours later, we arrived...




Will our room be ready? Will I have one of the two non-magical parking lot views?

 

[disneydreamingdebby]

Joining in!

Cool! Welcome!

Welcome back! I can't wait to hear about all of your adventures!

Thanks! It is odd to be home.

Here I am. I made page 1 at least. Can't wait to hear all about it!

Kelly

Kelly! Thanks for joining.

Can't wait to read all about your trip.

Welcome! I love your name - I think I could rename myself addicitedtotheboards!

 

[addictedtothemouse]

Great update. Eighteen hours straight through is tough. That's a good idea about bribing the kids, I may have to try that on our next trip.

 

[disneydreamingdebby]

Great update. Eighteen hours straight through is tough. That's a good idea about bribing the kids, I may have to try that on our next trip.

It worked well because if one blundered she lost the dollar for the hour. If she blundered again, she paid me a dollar. Also, I liked that they each had individual consequences based on her own behavior. The way the original person explained it was that she and her dh would give them spending money there anyway. This way they can earn it with good behavior.

 

[FairyGodmotherJen]

Wow - you guys are troopers! That's one long day/night/morning!!!! I bet you were soooooo glad to see AKL.

I think I'm going to have to try that good behavior game next year when we drive to Virginia Beach. I'm not sure the littlest one will get it, but the older two will!

Can't wait to hear about all the different resorts and what you got to do!

 

[NikkiLovesWDW!]

Hey!!!!!

Love it so far! I love that you left in the afternoon and just DROVE until you got there! Can't wait to see your view!

 

[disneydreamingdebby]

Wow - you guys are troopers! That's one long day/night/morning!!!! I bet you were soooooo glad to see AKL.

I think I'm going to have to try that good behavior game next year when we drive to Virginia Beach. I'm not sure the littlest one will get it, but the older two will!

Can't wait to hear about all the different resorts and what you got to do!

The drive wasn't bad at all. It really went by pretty quickly.

Hey!!!!!

Love it so far! I love that you left in the afternoon and just DROVE until you got there! Can't wait to see your view!

If/ when we do this again, we will probably leave at the same time of day. The drive went very smoothly. The view...well I'll tell you it wasn't the worst nor the best! Really, who cares though if you are stuck with a bad one...it is Disney!