7 Days at CSR, You gotta love it! **NEW** Final Day Page 5

[Our2Girls&Disney]

Well, I have never written a trip report before, but I thought I would give it a whirl. If there is no interest in my first go at it, I will not continue. Please be honest, you will not offend me.

Operation WDW
April 24, 2006 – May 1, 2006

Attendees:
Myself – Disney Planning Addict
DH – Disney Lover, but leaves all the planning to me
DD8 – Amusement park, thrill seeker, need I say more?
DD4 – All around Disney fan

Pre-trip Report
I think that planning the vacation is just as much fun as going on one, so I thought that I should start my trip report by giving y’all the details of the plan.

Just to give you a little background. We took the kids on their first WDW trip in May of 2003. We thought it was our best family vacation ever. Ever since that trip, I have been anxiously awaiting our return to WDW. Back in November of 2005 DH and I decided to take the kids back to WDW in April. Having a child in school, limits your options if you are not willing to pull them school. I know that pulling the kids from school works for some people, it just does not work for us. We decided that since our DD8 would be out of school for Spring Break the week of April 24th, we wanted to book the trip during that week. To you folks down South, the week of April 24th does not sound like spring, but up here in NH, it is still cold in March. We have Spring Break in April, the end of April.

In case you did not know this, I am an avid Disney Researcher. I have been a frequent visitor of www.mousesavers.com, and www.allearsnet.com for quite sometime. Just not the DIS, I actually only discovered the DIS in December of 2005. I was slow at catching on, but I became addicted quickly.

Knowing our local airport, and how flights are priced, I knew that I could probably get the best deal on a Southwest flight. The best part is SW is the only airline at MHT which offers non-stop flights to Orlando. I began my airfare research in the beginning of November. Each day I would open www.southwest.com and look to see if airfare through April was available or not. The whole month of November, I would open SW website and yes that is right, no airfare for April. How could this be? When will they offer availability through April? Before I knew it, it was now December. You should have seen me. I was a freak! I would open the Internet browser several times a day. At work, I would clear my history on a daily basis, because someone in the IT department might think that I have gone over the deep end. Then I would go home, do the same thing all over again. Well, low and behold, December 20th rolls around it is 9:30 am, I open the browser, go to SW and I can’t get there, I am stuck. What is going on? What do I do? I instantly go in panic mode. I call DH at work, and ask him to log in. I walk him through the steps and he says, “Nope! No airfare for April.” Rats!!!!! I proceed with my work. That very same day, lunchtime rolls around, I take my time, get my lunch, chit chat with people while our lunches are heating up. I finally sit at my deck, open SW, just like I was doing for the past 60 days or so, Why should today be any different? All of a sudden, Can you believe it? SW has fares available for April! Yeah!!!!!!! What do I do? I am trying to click fast, and I am making errors. This is taking too long. I finally get everything straight and there is an added bonus, the flight prices have decreased, they are now only $59 each way. Wow!!!!! My heart is beating faster. I look at the screen; all the non-stops flights leaving MHT on Saturday are not available. I decide to proceed to Sunday, the only flight available leaving MHT is at 7:00am. Do I want to leave that early? I call DH to ask his opinion; he is actually not available, how can this be? What do I do? How do I make this decision on my own? I proceed to Monday, every flight leaving MHT on Monday is available. Wait, when do we return? I quickly check return flights on Sunday, the only return flight on Sunday, is you guessed it, at 7:00am. Do I want to leave at 7:00 am to come home from my Disney vacation? The clock is ticking; it feels like hours have gone by. I make a quick decision to fly Monday to Monday. The sky is the limit, every flight is available, and I can choose any flight I want. The bonus is DD8 will only miss one day of school. After I finalize everything, I am so excited and stressed at the same time. I can’t even eat my lunch. I am calling everyone I know to tell them. I finally get a hold of DH, and he is very excited too. We discuss the situation and then ask the question, How do we tell the kids?????? Hummmm

Up next…. The dilemma, to tell the kids or not tell the kids.

 

[MemoryMakers2669]

Oops, double post!

 

[MemoryMakers2669]

Keep going Our2Girls&Disney!! I totally can feel your pain with waiting for SW to open up their schedule and then you are in panic mode to get them booked!

 

[OhMari]

Wow, great Pre-Trip. Isn't it wierd when you finally get to make airline reservations how stressful it is. I wish Southwest flew closer to my home. The closet airport for me is Midway in Downtown Chicago. Yuck. 3 hours away and then all the stupid tolls you have to pay. I'd rather fly out of Milwaukee, which is only an hour away.

 

[6IrishDisneyKids]

I'm loving your TR so far! Can't wait for the next installment!

 

[dismom9761]

Super start!!

 

[Disney owl]

Looking forward to reading more

 

[Our2Girls&Disney]

Operation WDW
April 24, 2006 – May 1, 2006

What did I get myself into? This trip report writing is a little more difficult than I initially thought it would be. I hope that I don’t bore you guys to death.

Pre-trip Report – Part 2 - The Treasure Hunt

Once the airline was booked, we needed to decide how we were going to tell the kids. Several ideas popped into our heads. It was Christmas time, should give the tickets as a Christmas present? Should we wait until Easter? Maybe not tell them at all, just wake them up and bring them to airport? Shortly after I discovered the DIS, I read a post from someone who was going to tell her kids via a treasure hunt. When I read the post, a light bulb went off in my head. I thought to myself, we could do that! I did research on the web on creating treasure hunts for children, especially children who cannot read yet because we have a 4 year old who does not read. We decided to have both pictures and words. The 8 year old could read out loud to the 4 year old and they could use the picture to solve the clue. We thought that we could even videotape the entire experience. We made the decision that the treasure hunt would take place a couple days before our trip.

As time past by, I worked at getting the treasure hunt ready and putting together a prize as the finale. The treasure or prize would actually tell them that we are going to Disney World. This was when I discovered the Creative DISign section of the DIS. I thought that I could make them each an autograph book and WDW T-shirts and place them inside a wrapped box as a way for them to know we are going to WDW. I started with the Mickey Mouse tie-dye shirt, and then proceeded into ironing the transfers. I cannot forget to give Kudos out to the designers (specifically Julia & Nicks Mom ) in the Creative DISigns forum because they did some great work designing these T’s for me. The shirt on top said, “Surprise We are going to Disney World,” followed by several other WDW shirts. They were all adorable! I could just picture in my mind, the girls jumping for joy after reading that.

Two days before our trip we have the treasure hunt ready to go. The kids have no idea what is going on. I have the video camera charged, and the treasure hunt ready to go. We ask the kids if they want to play a game. They are just thrilled, “Yeah! Lets play a game.” I stay with the kids in the house while DH goes outside to hide all the clues. When DH returns, we explain the rules of the game. The camera is ready, we give DD8 the first clue, she reads it out load to DD4, they see the picture and run to the find the second clue, and so on. Finally they get to the final clue and find the wrapped boxes. I tell them to sit on the bench and open them. I am so excited that I could just explode. They unwrap the boxes and shout, “Cool, T-shirts!” DH has to explain to DD8 that she needs to read the shirts. She reads the first one, “Surprise we are going to Disney World.” Nothing, no reaction what so ever and moves on to the second shirt, “Walt Disney World 2006.” Again, nothing! DH asks her what the shirts say. She says, “Yes, I know that we are going Disney World again someday.” DH says, “Not someday, look at the year, 2006.” DD8 says, “Ohhhhh!” but she is still puzzled. I, of course am absolutely brewing inside so I shout out, “Ashley we are leaving in two days.” She looks at us with huge eyes and says, “We are?” I must admit that I was a little disappointed that they did not get the jump for joy, screaming around the backyard like I dreamed about for months. It must have been a delayed reaction because, it took a few minutes to soak in before they both started jumping around and giggling. They each had to put on one of their t-shirts and continue to wear them all day. I now have this disappointing moment in my life on video in case we ever want to relive the experience again someday. The good news is DD8 tells me that she wants to be surprised for all of our vacations from now on.

Up next…..The Hotel & Rental Car Options. Which one? How do we decide? Too many choices!
I know this really took place before the treasure hunt happened, but I just did not want to break up the section. I was on a roll.

 

[calstitcher]

Keep it coming! I'm enjoying your TR so far!

 

[MomofCKJ]

Subscribing! I can't wait for the rest! We are suprising our kids in December for our trip!

Allyson

 

[TLinden16]

Very neat to send them on a treasure hunt, even though they didn't have that jump up and down reaction. I can't wait to read more.

Thanks for posting

 

[Our2Girls&Disney]

Thank you everyone for your kind words. I will keep writing.

I can't quite put my finger on it, how can it be that I was just in WDW, but yet I want to go back? We will be going to Disney more frequently then every 3 years, you will find out why in part 3.

Subscribing! I can't wait for the rest! We are suprising our kids in December for our trip!

Allyson

Even though my kids did not jump up and down intially, they did when they finally "got it". They were just so cute. My oldest had to check the suitcase to make sure I packed everything correctly. My youngest did not remember the first trip at all, so everything was new to her. At one point she said, "This is the best vacation ever!" Priceless! With that said, I would definitely recommend surprising them. Keep your secret!!!!

 

[MemoryMakers2669]

You are doing fine! Keep going. We too surprised our kids last summer. We had my dd5's birthday party a few days before leaving and did the treasure hunt as well. They each had their own clues which led them to puzzle pieces and then they all put the puzzle together, which had a poem on it that told them. Only one of them had a great reaction out of four kids. After that though they were very excited.

 

[Our2Girls&Disney]

Operation WDW
April 24, 2006 – May 1, 2006

Pre-trip Report – Part 3 – Accommodations & Car Rental

Ok lets see, where were we? Ah yes, we have the airline booked and the treasure hunt ready.

Before I get started, I should probably let you know something about me, I am pretty much a cheapskate. DH often times refers to me as a “piker.” Nothing makes me happier then finding a bargain. The flight for example, how can you go wrong? It cost us $541 for all four of us to fly to FL. We could not have driven for that price.

After the flight arrangements were made, I needed to book the hotel. I had set in my mind that we were going to stay at the Pop Century. It was only $99/night and had everything we needed, right? Well, after speaking to a couple of my DGF’s they convinced me that I really should upgrade to the moderate. The moderate gives you a bigger room, a water slide and refrigerator in your room. I thought to myself, it would be nice to have a refrigerator. We could keep the water cold, plus I could even buy breakfast items, and cold cuts for sandwiches. Not to mention that my children are part fish, they swim every chance they can, so the water slide would be an added bonus. The moderate it is! After seeing BUZZ2001’s website, http://coronado_springs.tripod.com we decided that we would go with CSR. The pyramid pool was a huge selling feature. DH and I are so excited; we can stay on site, just like we did during our Disneymoon. When all of a sudden, the phone rings…..

Ok, I need to give you a little background before I continue. My parents own a beautiful motor home. They use it to go South for the Winter. They seem to like FL a lot, but usually they stay at one place for a week or two and move to the next place. You get my drift. The story continues…..​

I answer the phone, it is my Mom she is so excited. She has called to tell me that they just bought a piece of land to park their motor home on. Get this, in Davenport, FL and Davenport is only 12 miles to Disney World. She continues the conversation and offers to fly home to Massachusetts, leave the motor home in FL and let us stay in their motor home for FREE during our vacation. I do the math, lets see, CSR will cost us $1200 for the week and the motor home is free, which do I choose???? HUMMMMM. After couple days of careful consideration we decide to stay with CSR for a few reasons. (1) We really want to stay at CSR (2) We really want to stay in the park and (3) We already purchased a 7 day pass to WDW only and we do not want to drive back and forth 12 miles each way everyday. Being a piker, making a decision like this does not sound like me at all, but I must admit, CSR was worth it for sure! As I was sitting by the pool at CSR, sipping that Margarita, I was certain that we made the right choice.

Next, I just have to tell you about the car rental, not because it is exciting, just because I got such a great deal. I have to start by giving Kudos to Mary at mousesavers. Her website gives you so many options and she explains what you need to do to get the best price on a car. The rental car experience was just like the southwest experience. You know the routine, check each web site on a daily basis, and plug in the rental codes that Mary provided. Since Mary recommended National or Alamo, I pretty much stuck with those two rental places. Oh, and of course, not to forget to clear my Internet history everyday so, IT does not think that I am nuts. I found that Alamo had the best prices. Everyday, they would offer the mid-sized SUV for a lower price rather than the compact. I am not sure why they did that, but they did. Maybe it was because of gas prices, maybe they had excess SUV’s on hand, I don’t know why, but it was beneficial to me so, I did not feel the need to complain. I think the price started around $190 for the week with taxes and fees. Then it dropped to $135, and made the final drop to $109. Yes, that is right, I had a mid-sized SUV for only $109 including taxes and fees. I told you that I loved a bargain. It was a very nice mid-sized SUV, I might add. There were two to choose from, I let the kids pick it, a white or gold. The kids picked gold and boy they made the right choice. The car was loaded. Leather seats, moon roof, power everything, for the low price of let say it again, $109.

Up next….. The actual trip report, Departure Day. I’ll include some pictures.

 

[Our2Girls&Disney]

Wow! What a busy weekend! I did not have a chance to write about departure day all weekend. I will have part 4 ready for tomorrow.

 

[6IrishDisneyKids]

I am so enjoying your report! Can't wait for part 4!

 

[Our2Girls&Disney]

Operation WDW
April 24, 2006 – May 1, 2006

Trip Report – Part 4 – Departure Day

When I booked the flight I made the rush decision to depart at 7:00 in the morning. I figured this would give us time to go to the parks on arrival day. I wondered if this was a bad decision, but as it turned out, I couldn’t sleep anyway, so it was good move on my part.

It was around 3:45 am when I decided that tossing and turning in bed would get me nowhere. I turned off the alarm clock and jumped in the shower, did some last minute packing, and woke up DH. DH showered and packed the car. I woke the girls about 15 minutes before we left the house. My 4-year-old DD thought it was normal day, she thought that she was going to her grandmother’s and asked if her sister was coming with her. I said, “No, we are going to Disney World.” She was half asleep and responded with, “That’s right, I forgot.” My 8 year old had no problem at all waking up; she jumped out of bed, got dressed, and brushed her teeth without complaining once. The girls just looked adorable sporting their perma-grins and Surprise we are going to Disney World shirts. My mother came by the house to drop us off at the airport and it was cold outside, it was 42°F in NH that morning. Everything moved smoothly at the airport. We had A boarding passes so we were able to board first. As we were walking down the tunnel leading to the plane, my 8 year old was giggling saying out loud “we are going down the tunnel, I am so excited.” It was very touching knowing that they are this excited, finally. I wanted that reaction when we told them, but you can’t get everything. We wanted each of them to have a window seat so we picked back-to-back seats. I took DD4 and DH took DD8. The girls were fabulous during the 3 three-hour flight. They colored, played games, and ate snacks that I packed. DD4 of course had to try out the airplane bathroom not once, but twice. I am not sure how people join the mile high club because it was snug in there with just myself and a 4 year old, never mind two adults. Anyway, when we landed in Orlando, it was 90°F at 10:00 in the morning. Wow! What a shocker! We just came from 42° to 90° . It took a little adjusting too.

I had this plan that DH would take DD8 with him to get the luggage and I would take DD4 with me to get the rental car. DH knows the plan. Do I know it? No! I just decide to follow DH to the baggage, he says to me “You are not following your plan. Aren’t you supposed to get the car?” Oh crap, I am screwing up already! I take DD4 downstairs and to Alamo. There is a line, but it is not too bad. When they call me to the counter, I give them my reservation number, they try to trick me into buying insurance by saying, “Do you want the basic insurance or the premium?” I respond with, “neither.” She looks at me like I just grew a second head, raises her eyelids and lets out a deep breathe. Then gives me the form to sign, all of a sudden I see DH coming toward the Alamo booth. Wow, he has the bags already? Thumbs up to the plan! As I am signing the form, I look and it says that I am the only driver authorized to drive the car. After we pick out the mid-sized SUV, DH gets in the drivers seat. I remind him that I need to drive because I am the only one authorized. We switch places, go to the booth and drive off. The directions on www.allearsnet.com are wonderful. They take us to Publix so I can pick groceries. DD4 is sound asleep in the back so, DD8 and I hit the market while DH stays with her in the car. We pick up our items; pack the car and head over to CSR. This time allowing DH to drive. It is just not natural, he always does the driving. As we are going through those Disney Arches, I am sporting the perma-grin; I turn around to tell the girls. Unfortunately DD4 is still asleep, but DD8 has bug eyes going on, she is looking around, taking it all in, wiggling in her seat, and giggling. Ahh, dreams do come true. We pull into CSR and wake our daughter. The check in line was kind of long so DH took the girls for a walk around the grounds. It is finally my turn at the counter. I tell the CM that I faxed in my request to be in Cabana 8A, 4 days ago and would really like that building if at all possible, she says, you are already assigned to 8A. Yes, thumbs up to the DIS boards on making that recommendation. `I give her my Disney Rewards card to pay for part of the accommodations, but she is apparently new and is unsure on how to work the Reward card. I wait while she gets help and we are off to the concierge desk.

When I purchased my tickets, I used Mary’s recommendations on buying discount tickets through ticketmania. They were fabulous, only they sent these paper tickets and I really wanted to have plastic ones in case they got wet. Once again kudos to my fellow DISer’s who told me to have the tickets transferred to my room key. The concierge was very helpful, he transferred all four tickets to all four room keys, no problem. And we were off to the room.

The room was cute. We unloaded the car and the groceries. I made everyone a lunch with the cold cuts I just purchased. DH was thrilled to find out the purchased cold beer at Publix. We put our things away, packed some cold drinks and decided to head off to Epcot.

Let me just say that for some off reason the girls loved the bus stop. Here are some pictures of them climbing around:

We did not wait long when the bus came along. We hopped on. The girls took some seats in the back of the bus while DH and I sat together, smiling, just knowing how happy we made our girls. We pulled up to Epcot. Instantly the kids asked to go inside the “ball.” To us adults it is spaceship earth and it is a boring ride, but the kids were so excited they needed to go on the first thing we saw. We then remembered Soarin’. Being unfamiliar with Epcot, we asked a CM where Soarin’ was and they told us to head over to the Land. When we arrived there was a 30-minute wait. I said, “30 minutes is not bad for Disney, lets do it.” DH responded with, “Really?” Big mistake on my part! It was hot in there, the line does not move very fast and the girls were getting whiney, especially the 4 year old. They started asking when we were going to go to the pool. When we finally get on Soarin’, it was just great. The girls loved it! When it was over our children were the first to start clapping. They even wanted to wait in line again. We said, no, lets see something else. We are here all week. We headed over to Mission Space. I was hesitant to let my 8 year old ride MS because of the recent deaths, but I decided to let her try it out. I let DD4 play in the fountain while they were launched into space. Here some pictures of her running around:

After awhile we head over to MS gift shop to wait for them when Mickey walks out. We go outside to get pictures and autographs.

DD4 is beaming, she got her first autograph from no other then Mickey Mouse. She can hardly wait to show Daddy. We decide to go in the gift shop and wait. They walk out to tell us that the ride broke down so, they could not go on. I hate to say it, but I was relieved that she did not go on. I was very nervous while we were waiting around. My 4 year old proud as can be held up her autograph book to show Daddy when DD8 says, “I want Mickey’s autograph too.” We go back outside so they both can have one. Now everyone is happy.

We decide to cool off with an ice cream. As we sit and relax a little, the girls start bugging us to go back to the hotel. DH and I decide that we want to see a few more countries first. We head over to Mexico and Norway, the girls loved the water rides, I think they rode Mexico three times that day because there was no wait.

After that we walked over to China, where they were doing some show. Boy, those girls are flexible. It was about this point when the kids lost interest and wanted to go back to the hotel. We looked at one another and agreed that it is better to make them happy then us unhappy because we are listening to them so, decide to cool off a little in the pool.

The pool was fabulous. Our oldest quickly notices the water slide, starts jumping up and down, “Can I go on the water slide, can I go on the slide?” We decide to walk over together. My oldest runs up the stairs and down the waterslide before I could blink. Next DD4 gets scared and chickens out. Daddy convinces her to go down with him. I point to the sign where it says one rider at a time. He ignores me and gets yelled at by the lifeguard. I told you so! We hung out by the pool for a while and decide to head back to Epcot for the fireworks. I thought that Illuminations was good, for some reason I expected better, but still worth seeing. We enjoyed the show and went right to bed.

Up next….. The actual trip report, Day 2.

 

[Tidus]

Your daughters are adorable! I noticed that they were wearing Crocs.. Did they wear them to all of the parks and were they really comfortable? I'm trying to decide whether or not to buy some. Thanks for sharing your trip!

 

[Our2Girls&Disney]

Your daughters are adorable! I noticed that they were wearing Crocs.. Did they wear them to all of the parks and were they really comfortable? I'm trying to decide whether or not to buy some. Thanks for sharing your trip!

Actually I learned about the crocs on the DIS boards. The girls liked them so I bought then each a pair. I also purchased them each a pair of Airwalks from payless and to be honest there really is not difference. So if you want to save a few bucks, I recommend the airwalks. Yes, us girls wore them in every park, no problems. Myself and my oldest walked in every park all 7 days and did not complain once. I heard of people saying that their feet sweat, I did not have that problem and the kids did not complain. I say, give the crocs a try, I liked them.

 

[Mr.Walt Disney]

Very nice trip report keep up the great work.


2 thumbs way up.