You’re writing a TR? Really? (Christmas at POR, 2010)

[GoofyIsAsGoofyDoes]

Love the DC trip pictures...anxiously awaiting more trip report

Thanks for joining in Steve. Glad to have another Mountain Man along for the ride.

Hope you enjoy the rest of the trip…

 

[GoofyIsAsGoofyDoes]

Well butter my buns and call me biscuits… I really didn’t expect to hear this much response form the Washington DC pictures. Since I’m still in the process of writing up the next chapter, and I’ve gotten such tremendous (and unexpected) response to those images…

Here are a few more to tide you over while I finish spiffing up the next segment.

The USS Maine Memorial at Arlington National Cemetery
With the Canada Memorial in the foreground

Part of the World War II Veteran’s Memorial
Between The Lincoln and Washington Monuments in the center of the Mall

The Revolutionary War Gun Boat: USS Philadelphia
In the Smithsonian Museum of American History

I’d also like to take this opportunity to talk about pictures. I intend to post a good number of them within the confines of this Trip Report, but as I’m sure you’ve noticed, the image quality is only so-so. It’s an equipment thing. I don’t have the best camera, so I’m hoping that at least I have composed interesting pictures for y’all to look at. The next thing you’ll notice is that there won’t be a lot of pictures of “Us”. I’m usually taking them, so I don’t show up very often in them. Everyone else in my house is rather camera shy. Despite my pointing out to my “Lovely” over and over that I believe she’s absolutely beautiful, and meaning it, she just won’t have it. And the boy is typical of all teenage guys. He’ll let you take the picture if he can’t possibly get out of it (meaning only if it’s a direct order), but smiles ain’t happening (except under extreme circumstances).

 

[Wherem I Now]

 

[GoofyIsAsGoofyDoes]

Welcome sir, welcome.
Glad to have one of our founding members along for the festivities. Anyone who can hang on through all 10 DDC threads is deserving of an honored spot in the doghou… errrr…. At the table, yah that’s it, an honored spot at the table.

So… When are y’all leaving for Port Canaveral? I’m looking forward to hearing your reaction to that trip.

 

[Wherem I Now]

Welcome sir, welcome.
Glad to have one of our founding members along for the festivities. Anyone who can hang on through all 10 DDC threads is deserving of an honored spot in the doghou… errrr…. At the table, yah that’s it, an honored spot at the table.

I'm a glutten for punishment

So… When are y’all leaving for Port Canaveral? I’m looking forward to hearing your reaction to that trip.

Just got back this past weekend. Ready to go back!

 

[GoofyIsAsGoofyDoes]

Chapter 3 / Part 1: D Day

Driving is our normal method of transit to The World. I live in SC (also known as the “State of Succession”), but I’m only 5 miles as the crow flies from the boarder of the next state to the north. The nearest airport is CLT. Unfortunately, that also happens to be a hub airport for US Air (also known as “Agony Air”) and that means that there is dang little competition and certainly no Southwest flights (and therefore no affordable flights to anywhere much less MCO). On the up side… It’s only about 8ish hours to Orlando, so the drive is not that awful. We decided that it would be nice to get into our first park fairly early on Saturday (our first day on site), so we planed to head out on the Friday before and camp out somewhere else the first night. One little problem though… School wasn’t yet out for the winter break. They kids had to be there that one more day.


Now this particular subject is a whole lot like a live hand grenade on these boards. It generally results in some very strong responses and recriminations (and even a tantrum or two). So, “let me say this about that”… Every family, child, school system, schooling method, and set of circumstances is different, so I ain’t one to pass judgment on anyone else for the decisions they make. That being said, this is how we feel about it. My boy attends a public school system (which I like and support) and were he still in the first three or four grades of elementary school, I might also have considered taking him out earlier in the month. Probable not if he were still in middle school, and defiantly not now that he’s in high school (at least not for more then a day or two at the maximum because they expect too much out of them and move too quickly). Max also had a major algebra test that morning, but he checked with his teachers, and the afternoon was clear. As such, we decided to take him out this one time just as he would have been heading for lunch and then we’d hit the road.


I was off work that day, so I packed up the car and showed up at school at about 11:30. Originally I was thinking it would be 12:30, but I was off by an hour (so much the better). Now I’ve never tried to do this before, and was ignorant of the exact nuance and phrase required to extract a child from school at mid-day. So I walked into the office and started asking how you go about picking your young’en up early and expecting a whole lot of grief would be heading my way very quickly. The folks at the counter point me to the attendance clerk and I re-explain the situation. She digs into her files. When she finds my son’s records, she gives them a read and then exclaims, “Lord, I wish all my other students had attendance records like this!” She said that there was no reason for me to worry about this one little half of a day and didn’t even need the “Parental Sign-out Letter” that I’d spent a good bit of time trying to compose correctly. That was easy. Too easy… So I figured I’d have to pay for that somewhere else. That somewhere else would end up being the weather (but I digress)

We now pause for a brief intermission. Please remaine seated in your time vehicle and Chapter Three will continue momentarily.

In the mean time, this Trip Report proudly presents… One of our feature entertainment extravaganzas!!! Making a special and previously unscheduled stop in their critically acclaimed world tour… I Give You!!!!!

............THE DANCING FEDERALES!!!!!!!!

 

[nat1234]

I like the pictures of your Nation's Capital. One day I would love to go to the Smithsonion (sp?) and Mount Vernon. I know how you feel about pulling your child from high school. My youngest just started high school and I can't imagine pulling her out right now. Great start so far. I can't wait to read more.

 

[nutz2notz]

Really enjoying your report so far and love the DC pictures.

I won't judge you on taking the kid out of school as I have been known to do that more than once myself!

Looking forward to your next update.

 

[mkandjpsmom]

Great trip report so far! The DC pictures are great. We took a trip to DC about 9 years ago and loved it. I can't wait to hear about Christmas at WDW!

 

[afwdwfan]

Looking good so far. I've been to DC a couple of times and absolutely love the history and significance of everything there. I had the honor of spending some time there for work when I was with the USDA. It was in July/August and was hotter than hot, but it was awesome walking outside after a day at work and seeing the Washington monument right in front of me. I love the pictures!

So despite having other plans in the works, I still really wanted to go back down to The World (selfish I know). With this in mind…

So, what exactly is the selfish part?

I set a diabolical plan into motion.

Diabolical is the best kind of plan!

First, I started a discussion on what all everyone wanted for Christmas that year.

Given this set up, (and a little bit of time for all to calm down) I then suggested that we skip the expense of presents entirely (for each other that is) and go down to Disney during the Christmas season. It’s something that we’d all enjoy and besides, memories are better then things (and believe me, I wish I’d learned that last part years ago because it just gets truer and more evident with each passing year).

That is awesome! Great strategic play there.
That is kind of what our plan is for this year. We're just going to do Disney as our gift to each other.

Now this particular subject is a whole lot like a live hand grenade on these boards.

Eh... to each his own. I don't even get why people argue about it. I personally probably wouldn't pull my kid out for vacation, but a half a day never hurt anybody. And if you wanted to pull him out for a week, that'd be between you, him and the teachers, not somebody on a message board that doesn't even know you.

 

[Captain_Oblivious]

Very nice strategery with the Christmas gifts turning into a WDW trip. Did you get a psychology degree?

I do agree wholeheartedly that experiences > material things.

 

[GoofyIsAsGoofyDoes]

I like the pictures of your Nation's Capital. One day I would love to go to the Smithsonion (sp?) and Mount Vernon.

Thanks. That trip was one of the best I’ve had the opportunity to take. It’s kind’a like an “American History Disneyland”. Too much to see and do in one trip and the attention to detail is exquisite.

Really enjoying your report so far and love the DC
pictures.

I won't judge you on taking the kid out of school as I have been known to do that more than once myself!

Looking forward to your next update.

Welcome aboard. Glad that you’re enjoying my ramblings.
I’m still surprised that anyone is following along al all.

Great trip report so far! The DC pictures are great. We took a trip to DC about 9 years ago and loved it. I can't wait to hear about Christmas at WDW!

And another Welcome is on order.
I’ll get to the actual Disney stuff very soon.
Just got to finish off Chapter three and then it’s on to POR.

Looking good so far. I've been to DC a couple of times and absolutely love the history and significance of everything there. I had the honor of spending some time there for work when I was with the USDA. It was in July/August and was hotter than hot, but it was awesome walking outside after a day at work and seeing the Washington monument right in front of me. I love the pictures!

Thanks. So long as I wouldn’t have to drive, I’d like to live up that way as well. We were there in late June of last year. They were in the middle of a record heat wave. Needless to say, we tried to stay indoors as much as possible.

So, what exactly is the selfish part?

Don't know anything about that

Diabolical is the best kind of plan!

No sense in having one otherwise.

That is awesome! Great strategic play there.
That is kind of what our plan is for this year. We're just going to do Disney as our gift to each other.

Very nice strategery with the Christmas gifts turning into a WDW trip. Did you get a psychology degree?

Well… Errrrr… Yah…. I kind’a did go about that in a rather sneaky way.
Some times it’s more important to ask the right question and then use that answer to know which questions no longer need to be asked. Similar to the way a flow chart works (and I’m plenty old enough to have actually had to draw my share of “flow charts”)

I do agree wholeheartedly that experiences > material things.

This is one of the great lessons in life.
You can’t learn it soon enough (and I didn’t).

I know how you feel about pulling your child from high school. My youngest just started high school and I can't imagine pulling her out right now. Great start so far. I can't wait to read more.

Eh... to each his own. I don't even get why people argue about it. I personally probably wouldn't pull my kid out for vacation, but a half a day never hurt anybody. And if you wanted to pull him out for a week, that'd be between you, him and the teachers, not somebody on a message board that doesn't even know you.

I wasn’t worried too much about the half a day. If he didn’t have an exam that day, we’d have left in the morning. But I just can’t justify the better part of a week out of school, at this stage. Even though I’d have saved a good bit of cash, and the parks would not have been near as crowded (a little bit of foreshadowing there).

 

[GoofyIsAsGoofyDoes]

Chapter 3 / Part 2: Rainman…

Interstates are boring. Shocked to hear that, aren’t you. There is no shortage of beauty in this country, but if you’re driving, you really can’t spend much time looking at it, and the road that you are trying to pay attention to is just one long monotonous never ending line of dark gray… Zzzzzzzzz… I’m AWAKE!! Really... This drowsy state started to set in a few hours into the trip as the afternoon sun was beating down on the car and everyone else was either watching DVDs in the back or catching a cat nap in the front. Under these conditions your peripheral vision starts to narrow and the eyelids just start to get heavy, but sometimes nature has a way of solving your problems four you. And when you’re driving, that salvation usually manifests itself in the form of rain.

I don’t believe that I have ever driven over 400 hundred miles at a single stretch without getting rained on at least once. But sometimes Momma Nature just decides to rip open one great big ‘ol hole in the sky and absolutely drench everything in sheets of uninterrupted liquid havoc. Around home we’d call it a “frog strangler”. That’s what we encountered. This downpour started about midway through GA and continued for the next 200 miles or so. Now... I was awake, and very tense. With the visibility down, and most of the other cars speeding up rather then slowing down, the drive became a whole lot more, shall we say, exciting. When dinnertime approached we just grabbed burgers at a drive through and kept moving. The only good thing (if you can call it that, is that this kind of rain kept a lot of the Highway Patrol officers busy handling the myriad of driver errors (not that I could do very much speeding in those kind of conditions). Another good thing was deciding to take FL Route-9A as the bypass for downtown Jacksonville. If you don’t use this route, I recommend it. Better roads, fewer exits (which means less sprawl) and the chance to cross one really fine bridge at Dames Point. The view is breathtaking and the structure itself is spectacular.

(These were actually taken on the way back home)

(Yah, they aren’t the greatest images)

(Taken from a moving car and all, but you get the idea)

Trust me, if you were there looking out the window and up the St. Johns River, it was spectacular.

Somewhere near Daytona, the rain finally stopped. The rest of the drive on I-4 was fairly uneventful and I now had my second wind. We decided to stop at a Hampton Inn just northeast of “The Big O” for the night. I trust this particular chain, and they generally don’t let me down. They had a good room available, and warm cookies sitting out for the guests. The coffee, however... That was tepid at best and had been setting out a long while (win some, loose some), but the cookies were good, the bed was queen size, clean and soft, and in nothing flat we were all fast… a… sleeeeeee… Zzzzzzzzzzz…

 

[GoofyIsAsGoofyDoes]

Chapter 4: Day-1

Part-1 - Rain… Not just rain, but rain rain…

The sun had risen. You surely couldn’t tell that this astronomical event had occurred, but according to the alarm clock and my vague recollections of science classes past, there should have been a large yellow-orange disk dominating the sky and warming the ground beneath us. What you could see instead was rain. Not just rain, but rain rain…” It was that steady ceaseless type of winter precipitation that just makes your bones ache.

This had the potential to become a problem as we were planning to spend the day at Animal Kingdom. AK is one of the largest parks physically and is set up so as to have very little cover as your traveling from one area to the next. As a method of aiding the financing of this trip, we did not go for either the “Park Hopper” or “Non-Expiring” options on our tickets. We’d only be there four days and the package included five days worth of park entrances, so our thinking was that if need be we’d consider burning two of them in one day. We also planed to start at AK, because we can generally see and do most of the things we really like there in a bit less then a day in the first place.

Such is life, and there is precious little anyone can do about the weather in the first place. So… We got ready, ate some of the free breakfast offered in the grand lobby of our accommodations and jumped back in the car. The drive through Orlando was a bit congested and the rain wasn’t helping matters, but we made our way down to exit-67 and onto the property with no real trouble. Even in the midst of a dreary winter rain, there is still something very magical about actually crossing under or by any of the welcome gates at Disney.

The trek to POR was smooth and by 9:30 we were tip-toeing our way around all the standing water and trying to get into the main lobby of the resort. I had done the on-line check in, so we hopped in the designated queue and other then realizing that I’d forgotten to bring my “Disney Visa Points – Rewards Card” (which would have helped pay any of the extra expenses we encountered) we were good to go. Well sort of. Our room wasn’t ready yet. As y’all know, this is not that uncommon (especially during busy times of the year). They knew we would be staying in the “Acadian House” in the Magnolia Bend section of the resort, but that was all the info that was available at the time. However, they offered to text us when the room became available and that our cards would work at that time, so there would be no need to check back in at the front desk later in the day. Fair enough.


Part-2: What to do, what to do?

One of my wife’s favorite phrases perfectly supplied the title of this little section. So here we are, now what? The rain was just too heavy to really be able to enjoy AK at that point. Of course, when you’re at Disney, there are lots of options. We decided to give the weather a bit more time to work itself out and headed over to Downtown Disney for a bit. Depending on how long we were there, we might get a little lunch and we certainly wanted to spend some time looking around. So we moved the car around to the Acadian House parking lot, made the short walk to the North Depot, and in less then ten minutes, we were sitting on the DTD bus.

(This pic was actually from a little later in the trip, but you get the idea)

One of the first shops you come to from the bus stops at DTD is the Christmas Store. Needless to say, we indented to hit that one anyway, so in we go. After a little bit of poking around, Tamara had found the precise ornament for that year’s expedition. No sooner do we complete that transaction then there’s a buzz on her cell-phone. It’s the front desk at POR… Room 8110 is now ready! One top of that, we walk outside and discover that the rain was finally starting to let up a bit. So we thought about it for a moment and decided to take the boat back up to our resort (because at the PO resorts you can do that) and then load all our gear into the room. Maybe by then the rain will have finally dissipated.

 

[afwdwfan]

I don’t believe that I have ever driven over 400 hundred miles at a single stretch without getting rained on at least once. But sometimes Momma Nature just decides to rip open one great big ‘ol hole in the sky and absolutely drench everything in sheets of uninterrupted liquid havoc.{/QUOTE]
You know what, I've never thought about it that way, but you're right. Seems like everytime we drive somewhere for vacation we always go through a downpour that looks to be of Noah's Ark proportions at some point in the trip.

We decided to stop at a Hampton Inn just northeast of “The Big O” for the night. I trust this particular chain, and they generally don’t let me down.

Yep, typically can't go wrong with them... and the breakfast ain't half bad for a free one.

Not just rain, but rain rain…” It was that steady ceaseless type of winter precipitation that just makes your bones ache.

Sounds like spring has been around here... get through with one storm today and then another hits tomorrow.

Even in the midst of a dreary winter rain, there is still something very magical about actually crossing under or by any of the welcome gates at Disney.

A crappy weather day at Disney is always better than a sunny day at work.

Hopefully the rain calmed down for you... the way this thing was starting out I thought you were going to tell us you went to the sports store in DTD to see if they had any Kayaks or Canoes available.

 

[FreezinRafiki]

Rob - I'm really enjoying the report. Your narration is excellent, and that picture above really captures the day.

The boat ride to/from POR & POFQ really are nice, aren't they? Nice smooth water and beautiful views. Hard to beat that!

 

[GoofyIsAsGoofyDoes]

You know what, I've never thought about it that way, but you're right. Seems like everytime we drive somewhere for vacation we always go through a downpour that looks to be of Noah's Ark proportions at some point in the trip.

That’s just something I noticed. I’ve done a fair amount of driving, but every time we’re in the car for longer then about 4 hours, you can just about count on encountering rain somewhere. There are exceptions, but usually this is consistent enough to win a bet off of someone that doesn’t pay as much attention,

Yep, typically can't go wrong with them... and the breakfast ain't half bad for a free one.

Agreed, they’re very consistent. You can save $20 or $30 at other places, but the condition of the facility is always a crap shoot (with rather long odd associated with it). Traveling is hard enough on the body, so I’ll pay a couple of bucks for a known commodity.

Sounds like spring has been around here... get through with one storm today and then another hits tomorrow.

The spring weather has been rather frightful nearly everywhere this year. La Nina years are always extra wet, and some folks have had a real hard time of it. We’re even in the process of replacing our roof due to sever hail damage. I’m also anticipating a fairly active hurricane season this summer as well (and SC is just about due for one - historically speaking), but hopefully, the big storms will hold off until after we go cruising in a few weeks.

A crappy weather day at Disney is always better than a sunny day at work.

Hopefully the rain calmed down for you... the way this thing was starting out I thought you were going to tell us you went to the sports store in DTD to see if they had any Kayaks or Canoes available.

If I’d have thought of it, a kayak might well have been a good purchase. Things do start to dry out shortly and be sure that we did have a good time down there. An unconventional trip (some would say), but a lot of fun none the less.

Rob - I'm really enjoying the report. Your narration is excellent, and that picture above really captures the day.

The boat ride to/from POR & POFQ really are nice, aren't they? Nice smooth water and beautiful views. Hard to beat that!

Thank you sir... Coming from a master author of Dis-TRs with the wide following you have garnered on these boards… That is unexpected high praise indeed.

Here’s the funny thing, this is actually a bit of an experiment on my part. In the past few years, I’ve had a number of different unrelated instances where someone has told me that they thought I had a knack for writing. However, this assessment flies directly in the face of nearly ever word that ever cross the lips of America’s army of English teachers in reference to my abilities of communication, so I never really took the comments to heart. But recently, I’ve been thinking about trying to put a few ideas and experiences to pen (just ‘cause I want to), so this TR is kind’a like my first foray into the realm of the written word. I’m still surprised that anyone is reading along, but It’s giving me the confidence to continue (of course that also means, that you now share at least a small part of the blame for mindless dribble that I will be unleashing on society in the future ).


Now… About that boat ride… (to be continued)

 

[GoofyIsAsGoofyDoes]

Chapter 4: Day-1

- Part-3: Up the Sassagoula, and into the Acadian

The let up in the rain (from driving to light) had two immediate effects. It brightened our spirits, and it allowed me to finally pull the camera out of my pocket (which means form this point forward, you’ll generally have a few pictures to go along with my otherwise unnecessary commentary).

Although this was our first stay at Riverside, we’ve stayed at POFQ several times (it’s one of my favorite resorts), so we’ve made this river passage before. I just love to be aboard any type of ship or boat for any length of time regardless of the destination, and my family generally allows me to indulge this addiction (and that indulgence now insures that you have to scroll through a series of pictures from this little micro-cruise).

Nessie from behind

A little bit of SSR

A couple of shots of the Tree House Villas
(These look like they’d be fun, I’ll have to add them to the list of places to stay)

(Yah… it’s still raining a bit.)

Lazy River

Poseidon at the POFQ

Parterre Place - POR

Oak Manner – POR

Sassagoula Steamboat Company (Downtown POR)

Once we arrived at the docks at Riverside, we walked the pathways over to our building
(so as to figure out the best route for retrieving coffee & drinks latter on).

Acadian House

Even in the wintertime, this is one of the prettiest resorts on the property.

We had asked for a room on the ground floor (just for convenience) and quickly found the spot that was to be our home away form home for the next few days. First step: pictures and a general hunt for Hidden Mickeys (we just love finding these).

Our Welcome Mickey

A little trip around the room

Max made the mistake of sitting still long enough for Tamara to get a picture

Hidden Mickey’s in the fabric of the comferters and side chairs

And another one to boot

Next step, move the car a bit closer and load the bags & gear into the room. Third step: Realize that the rain had finally slowed to a mere drizzle and jump on the bus over to Animal Kingdom!

 

[MsHershey]

Subbing and looking forward to your next installment.

 

[GoofyIsAsGoofyDoes]

Subbing and looking forward to your next installment.

Welcome aboard, and thanks for deciding to tag along.

I’ve gotten the rest of this chapter written. I just need to organize the pictures and get them uploaded to the host site, so I should have some more updates fairly soon.