The Drive, the Dream and DVC - A March 2011 Birthday Surprise TR(NEW 11/9 p. 32 END)

[Mndisneygirl]

Wow, this is the first time I've ever been in on a trip report this early - I read one of your trip reports before and loved it and can't wait to hear this one, especially the cruise - my next "wish" in a few years!

Aww, thanks and You'll find I'm rather slow at updating, so it won't be hard to keep up! I should have an update in the next 24 hours on our road trip and arrival in Florida! I highly recommend Disney Cruises!!!

 

[Northern Disney Girl]

Aww, thanks and I should have an update in the next 24 hours on our road trip and arrival in Florida!

WOOT WOOT !!!!! So excited to hear all about the drive down!!! Hope you took excellent notes for me and all the future drivers!!!!

 

[Mndisneygirl]

So, where did I leave off? Oh, I was driving. I drove pretty much all the way through Wisconsin. It was rather uneventful. The girls had movies on, they had brought books, crayons, puzzle books, their favorite blanket and stuffed animal. Plus the food bag, it was pretty cozy back there!
We stopped at Exit 185 in Beloit for gas at the Pilot station/Taco Bell at about 6:15. I love how these gas stations are combined with a fast food! All in one stop!! But we didn't actually get Taco Bell. We'd brought some sandwiches and snacks that we didn't want to go to waste. So we ate those.
Gas price $3.46 per gallon.
After this stop, Dave started driving. Timing couldn't have been better (for me!) We had to pay $1.00 toll as we entered Illinois and then the rain started!! Just a little at first, but as we kept going south, it got pretty heavy. I hate driving in rain, and REALLY hate driving in rain in the dark, so it was good that Dave drove. I am the keeper of the toll $. We keep a small tupperware container in the car filled with change (mostly quarters) for all the tolls. When we approach a toll, I dig out the money and hand it to Dave. This trip we opted to avoid Chicago and head south in Illinois on Hwy 39 through Rockford and Bloomington/Normal. A lot less tolls. It kept raining.

And raining.

We stopped at 11:10 p.m. at Mount Vernon to fuel up and take a last bathroom break for the night for the girls. They had been dozing, but woke up for the stop. Gas Price: $3.57/gallon.
DH grabbed a McDonalds Frappe to give him some energy for the night time driving.
I kept checking the radar on my Weather Channel app (very handy!)
Lots of rain ahead.


Still raining.

About the only other people on the road were trucks. That made me so nervous, but DH was fine- he knew that they were going to stay in their lane, and he just passed them quickly. I wanted to sleep, but wanted to watch the road too. I did a little of both.

It kept raining.
At 4 a.m. we stopped again for gas - we'd made it to Monteague (?) Tennessee!! Gas Price $3.43/gallon.

Still raining...

The girls woke up a bit later, and we stopped for breakfast at McDonald's in Adairsville GA. The girls were funny - they kept saying, We know we're in the south, that lady has an accent! Plus, even with the rain, it was noticeably warmer. Of course, just getting to "the south" makes us think we're close to WDW, but Georgia is one LOOOOOOONNNG state to drive through!!

Yup, it's still raining!

We stopped at 10:18 ( I took good notes on the times!) at Macon GA for gas. Here the gas price was $3.49. I think this was the stop where at the intersection for the on/off ramps for the freeway, you NEVER got the turn arrow! People would sit and wait, and wait and two or three cycles of the lights would run through, no left turn arrow. Finally they just went when the green lit for through traffic. It was like the arrow light just wasn't sensing any cars! Very odd.

Sorry about the lack of pictures, but really, anytime I saw anything worth photographing, we were past it in a flash. My phone isn't that quick to set up to take a picture, and the camera was in the trunk (I know, I know, but it was cramped in the car).
As we drove through Georgia, we started to see something wonderful - the SUN was coming out!!! By lunchtime it had finally stopped raining!


Finally, at 1:00 p.m., we saw it!


The Promised Land!!!
We could feel the warmth!
Too bad the girls and I were dressed in mostly black!! That sun was so nice and warm!

The Florida Welcome Center!!!!!

I sure didn't line that picture up well - I cut off the top of the sign!!!
Another family was waiting to take some pictures, and the older lady (grandma I suppose) was very impressed with Sarah's little show off display of flexibility. I must have been rushed. I normally take the time to get the whole sign in the shot!!
Oh well. We enjoyed some wonderful fresh orange juice which Paige said tasted better than any she'd ever had before (well duh, the stuff at home is not exactly freshly squeezed).
Then we were getting so excited we hopped back in the car. We knew we'd make it to Pop before dinner, which was our hope.

Getting excited!!

Now by this point, the girls were pretty sure (in fact we might have told them by now) that we were headed to WDW. We would not tell them what resort we were staying at or for how long.

We got on the Florida Turnpike and paid our $2.50 toll.
Hwy 429 also had a toll - $1.25.

We drove past this...

Saw one of these...Not for us this time!

Almost!!!

We finally arrived at Pop Century at 4:30 p.m.

The kids were really excited to check out a new resort!

I had done online check in and noted that it was Sarah's birthday (that day). We were all set in 5 minutes and the CM not only gave her a birthday button, but 3 carnations! She was feeling pretty dang special! I told her that was a reward for being such a trouper in the car! Paige didn't seem too upset that she didn't get anything, but I did tell her that we were going to be celebrating her birthday on this trip too.

Next up: our room, exploring POP and dinner and a swim (maybe!)

I just noticed the date in the pictures is WAY wrong. I used Sarah's camera, but the date had not been reset for a while. These were all on March 9, 2011!

 

[Lovemy3babes]

Oh man Sheree! You guys are troopers for doing the long drive from MN. That scares me a little bit. But it sounds like you are pros by now! Hurray for Pop!

 

[Dancegrl624]

What a drive!!! I can't even stand driving in the car for more than an hour...I go crazy. Your girls seem to do just fine in the car though. So does Madison. When we drove to Annapolis last July, she was perfect. We brought her Nintendo DS, portable dvd player, plenty of books...we hardly heard from her!

As you know, we just LOVE Pop!!! It's such a fun resort.

 

[SoonerGirl]

Ugggg, I hate driving in the rain too, I would have been a nervous wreck!!

Being able to stop and get that fresh orange juice at the welcome center is a small consolation for such a long time in the car, but that's one part of our drive that I'm actually looking forward to

 

[Mndisneygirl]

We went looking for our room, which was in the 50's section, room 3236. This was the building with the large statute of Tramp, from Lady and the Tramp. We found it fairly easily and met our next door neighbors as they were on their way out.

These little fellas were waiting for us!

Nice flat screen

A spot to start piling up our "stuff"

Nice view outside from the walkway

I noticed there was a wet spot on the carpet near the little table and chairs, but didn't care to fuss about it. Also, there was no shampoo in the shower. Is that typical? I hadn't stayed in a value in some time, but I didn't think they'd deny you some shampoo! Didn't matter, I had some with me anyway.

We unloaded a couple things, we were only staying one night remember, and I had packed so that I knew which bag I'd need to bring in. I was so organized!! (HA!) (This would be a bit of foreshadowing...)

Since it was Sarah's birthday, we'd brought her a present so she'd have something to open. She was told that the surprise was the big gift for both of them, so don't expect much else.

Her favorite player on the MN Twins is Joe Mauer so we got her a jersey. We have partial season tickets, so she'll get to wear this to a bunch of games.

We decided to get some food and then hit the pool (the bowling pin pool, since the Hippy Dippy Pool was closed for refurbishment.
We got dinner - nope, no pictures! I don't even know what we had! I do know that it cost $37!!! Yikes! I want the dining plan!! We paid OOP since we were only having one or two meals on this leg of our trip.
Then it was off to the pool!
The water was way too cold for me, so I just sat on the lounge chairs. I had noticed that on the other side of the lake there was some construction going on. I asked a lifeguard and he said it was the new Animation resort. It was hard to tell much from a distance. It sort of looked like a dorm to me!

We saw a lot of clouds rolling in and then we saw lightning in the distance. We headed back to the room and got ready for bed - at 7:00!!! It was a long day (and previous night) and we were all pretty tired. It started raining and I thought, oh no, I hope it's not raining tomorrow when we go to the ship!

Everyone was asleep by about 8:30!! Well, everyone but me, since I wrote that in my journal, I must have been awake then!

DH and I had talked about how we were going to surprise the girls with the news of the cruise. We had pillowcases made that were embroidered with their names, the dates of the cruise and the DCL logo. They were going to get autographs on them on the ship. We decided that in the morning we would give them the pillowcases.

I need to check and see if DH was able to upload the video of the surprise so that will have to be our big cliffhanger for today!!

 

[Northern Disney Girl]

YOU SO ROCK SHEREE!!! Thanks so much for all your wonderful notes on the trip down!!! So amazingly helpful!!! I already have mapquest and AAA's triptik trip planner open and I am cross referencing all your stops and exit points!!!

Natalie was reading over my shoulder and saw the picture of Paige sitting in the car and said - "Mommy, that's Paigey!!! I really miss her, when will we see them again??"

$37 for supper!!!! Oh my word - Have to go to my budget sheet for food and make a note about that!! We will staying at AsMo our arrival night before we check into the Poly - that is a surprise for the girls!!! Natalie has always wanted to stay in the Dalmatian building!!!

 

[Mndisneygirl]

Oh man Sheree! You guys are troopers for doing the long drive from MN. That scares me a little bit. But it sounds like you are pros by now! Hurray for Pop!

Well, we've driven to FL at least 3 times with the kids and to VA or NY a couple times too. They know the rules - bring lots of stuff to do and everyone has to "try" whenever we stop! The kids are better than me. I always think it's such a waste of precious vacation time, but you can't beat the cost and freedom of having your car and packing whatever you want to bring.

What a drive!!! I can't even stand driving in the car for more than an hour...I go crazy. Your girls seem to do just fine in the car though. So does Madison. When we drove to Annapolis last July, she was perfect. We brought her Nintendo DS, portable dvd player, plenty of books...we hardly heard from her!

As you know, we just LOVE Pop!!! It's such a fun resort.

Yup, keeping busy is the key. I just wish I could read in the car w/o getting sick. I'd be fine then. Pop was fun, I doubt we'll stay there much with DVC now, but I'd do a night here and there if I didn't have the points to spare or something. I was amazed at how busy it was! I shouldn't have been, but I was.

Ugggg, I hate driving in the rain too, I would have been a nervous wreck!!

Being able to stop and get that fresh orange juice at the welcome center is a small consolation for such a long time in the car, but that's one part of our drive that I'm actually looking forward to

Yeah, it was something fun to look forward to. At least it means we made it to FL!

YOU SO ROCK SHEREE!!! Thanks so much for all your wonderful notes on the trip down!!! So amazingly helpful!!! I already have mapquest and AAA's triptik trip planner open and I am cross referencing all your stops and exit points!!!

Natalie was reading over my shoulder and saw the picture of Paige sitting in the car and said - "Mommy, that's Paigey!!! I really miss her, when will we see them again??"

$37 for supper!!!! Oh my word - Have to go to my budget sheet for food and make a note about that!! We will staying at AsMo our arrival night before we check into the Poly - that is a surprise for the girls!!! Natalie has always wanted to stay in the Dalmatian building!!!

Oh thanks Kim!! If you have any questions along the way just ask! We tried to stop only when we were getting low on gas and with driving at night, the kids didn't seem to need as many pit stops. I just watched my fluid intake, because I seem to be the one with the tiny bladder in the family!

Natalie is so sweet!!! I have to tell Paige what she said. I also have to send you some of the brochures/maps that I grabbed for you! I'll have Paige write to Nat too! Hopefully we can meet up on your way to or from WDW this summer if you come through MN again! I'll certainly let you know if we plan any outings to Duluth - maybe we can meet somewhere up there.

Yeah, I wish I could remember what we ate that was so pricey! I think years ago, DH and I went to WDW for the 2000 celebration and stayed at ASMO and I want to say we had 101 Dalmatians stuff in our room.

 

[natebenma]

You made it to POP! Hooray! What a nice break from the drive, and how exciting for you to know there is SO much more to come!

Hope to see the video soon!

 

[crzyred]

Love the jersey!!!!

I'm so excited to see how the girls react to the surprise!!

 

[Dugette]

Hi, Sheree. I'm here and enjoying hearing about your journey. Can't wait to hear about the girls' reaction to the surprise!

 

[Charleston Princess]

Ugh, I hate driving in the rain and dark as well! That Florida welcome sign must have been a doubly wonderful sight after that drive!!!

Nope, they normally give you shampoo in the values! Pop always makes me smile -- it is so colorful and fun!

Can't wait to see the girls' reactions to the news of the cruise!

 

[Mndisneygirl]

You made it to POP! Hooray! What a nice break from the drive, and how exciting for you to know there is SO much more to come!

Hope to see the video soon!

Video coming up!!

Love the jersey!!!!

I'm so excited to see how the girls react to the surprise!!

That's right, you're a baseball fan too!! She just LOVES Mauer!! (her and a million other young women!)
The reaction is coming up!

Hi, Sheree. I'm here and enjoying hearing about your journey. Can't wait to hear about the girls' reaction to the surprise!

The video has been uploaded to photobucket! Coming up after these replies!

Ugh, I hate driving in the rain and dark as well! That Florida welcome sign must have been a doubly wonderful sight after that drive!!!

Nope, they normally give you shampoo in the values! Pop always makes me smile -- it is so colorful and fun!

Can't wait to see the girls' reactions to the news of the cruise!

I was really excited to be in Florida! Pop does seem to be a "happy" kind of place. I thought they should at least have shampoo!! They didn't have a bag for laundry either!

 

[Mndisneygirl]

Well, Dave and I were talking about our $37 dinner at POP and we think it included a cheeseburger, kids chicken strips and some kind of flatbread. Plus drinks. Still pretty pricey!!

Onward to the big reveal!!!
We woke up around 7:00 a.m. and guess what? IT WAS RAINING!!! Since we used our towels from the room at the pool, we called housekeeping to get more. DH went looking too, and found a housekeeper and asked her for a bag for dirty laundry. He came back with a GINORMOUS plastic bag that would have held a week's worth of laundry!!! It was funny to just put one or two day's worth of dirty undies and t-shirts in it!
We got our Envelope of Doom - it wasn't too bad since it was just for one night (which we paid for with a gift card) and our big expensive dinner!

Once we were just about ready to get going to get some breakfast, we decided to spring it on the girls.
We told them to sit on the bed and we had birthday presents for them.

Here's the video of what happened next: (man I hope this works!!)

Our Fish Extender

We copied this from one of the DISigners. Dave just saved it on the computer as a possible way to surprise the girls. Isn't it cute?

After the girls stopped flipping out, we had them call Grandma. (My mom) She knew we were going on the cruise and all, but pretended she didn't so Sarah had to call and tell her all about the surprise. That took a little while, and we had to get going to eat and repack a few things and get to the port.

We hustled out to the car and loaded stuff up in the rain. (this rushing would prove to be a problem later - Yup, more foreshadowing)

Then we grabbed some less expensive breakfast at Everything Pop and took some pictures before we left.
We got two kids meals (probably waffles and french toast) and a chocolate croissant for $12.

Oh my gosh, that place was so crowded!!! We barely looked at anything in the store (I wish we'd had a little more time), but all the type of stuff we were looking for like 2011 merchandise would be available later on in the trip.

A few wet pictures around POP

The food court

No swimming!

So we hit the road in the rain - again!!
Funny thing is, this is the third Disney cruise we've taken. It's the third time we have driven to the port in the rain!!! I hope someone's not trying to tell us something!! Luckily, the rain seems to have lightened or gone away on our past two cruises by sail away time. Would it this time?? You'll have to wait and see.

So we get on the highway - some toll road that cost us $2.50 (two tolls) and DH says, Oh craparewski! Yes, that's exactly what he said!! I panic, because he doesn't explain the "craparewski" right away. Big long pause until I say,
"what?". About 5 minutes later (or so it seemed), he said, "we need gas. I was going to get some before we got on the toll road." Oh, is that all???
Well, let's stop and get some.
We don't see any nice little signs that say there are gas stations and fast food at the next exit like they have on the interstates. We go through the second toll and ask the lady at the booth. She gave some really weird exit and told us to go by the airport. Uh, no, don't think so.
SO we go a few more exits and get off where it looks like there is some life and businesses.
We see a Publix and some restaurants and find a Hess or something. PHEW! It's a bit after 11, and I really thought it was okay time-wise. It wouldn't do any good to get to the port much before noon anyway.
We filled up at $3.54 per gallon and got back on the road.

Still raining as we drove over the "bridge" causeway thingy that leads to Port Canaveral. It was SO COOL to be able to spot the ships in port through the mist and fog!!! The Dream looked so BIG!!!! It is a lot bigger than the Wonder and Magic!

I'll find those pictures for the next update - if they're any good!!!

 

[SoonerGirl]

Love the video of the surprise, put a great big smile on my face! And I must say, I love listening to you guys talk, reminds me of 'home'. My parents were both born and raised in Minnesota and I spent every summer vacation there as a kid visiting relatives. In fact I'm going up next month for my cousin's high school graduation

I'm a little worried that you might have left something important in the room......

 

[wigdoutdismom]

I caught up just at the right time!
First of all, all of that rain on your trip down.... UGH!
Next I can't wait for our drink of OJ at the welcome center!!
Lastly the video, You look terrific! The surprise turned out just perfect!
I'm anxious to read more!

 

[wigdoutdismom]

I'm a little worried that you might have left something important in the room......

I was thinking the same thing too....

 

[Northern Disney Girl]

LOVE the video!!! Sarah's little dance was just so adorable!!! What a surprise filled trip you had!!! Hope that the rain lets up for you at some point!!! Can't wait to read more!!!

 

[MNTwinsMom]

Great start to your TR! I loved the surprise video. It's so fun to watch the kids faces as they figure it out.

Sounds like you made good time on the drive despite the rainy weather. I would have had a hard time sleeping while DH drove through bad weather too. I always feel better with another set of eyes on the road.

Love the Mauer jersey too! We have a Mauer fan and a Morneau fan at our house. Hope the jersey and your families presence brings our struggling team a little luck. I know it's early in the season and we already lost our 2nd baseman, but come on guys! It's never easy to be a Minnesota sports fans. . .

Looking forward to your first impressions of the Dream.