Coach's 2 for 1 pretrip/trip report!!! Plenty of pics!!!

[Coach81]

Just wanted to get it started this morning.. I'm off to school in a few. Hope you'll join me as we try to do two things.. give a trip report of our annual mardi gras vacation to Disney, AND do a pre-trip report of our upcoming summer trip BACK to Disney

Sorry.. but that's all I have time for now..

I'll be back later today with pictures of the family and the beginning of our mardi gras trip!

Things to come include:
1. Trip Report with a bunch of pictures (and maybe even some video) of our mardi gras trip.
2. Pre trip report of our upcoming summer trip to Disney and Busch Gardens.
3. Background info about me and my wonderful family.
4. My obsession with two things.... fitness and Disney!!!
5. My weight loss story, and current fitness journey...

Hope you'll check me out... I think it'll be fun!!!

 

[Coach81]

Here we are..

Me - 39.11 year old Converted Disney Fanatic!!!

My beautiful wife Alisa

My youngest son Zach

My oldest Son Chase

And my mom and stepdad who we brought along for this trip

These were all taken at an absurd time.. which I will reveal later..

My wife has always been a Disney Freak, I got captivated by the magic when we started bringing my sons. I have been hooked ever since.

Up next- The Beginning of our trip!!!

 

[Brave teacher]

You know I'm here.

 

[H20DogsNDisney]

 

[Coach81]

You know I'm here.

Welcome you two! I figured I'd see you around pretty soon, Megan (Brave teacher). It's going to be fun! Although you have the luxury of having the "inside scoop", I'm sure you'll still have fun.. after all, YOU'RE going to be in it, along with your wonderful family!!!

First big update.. the beginning.. coming soon!

Thanks for joining in!

 

[Coach81]

We had to wait almost a year for this trip, so you know we were anxious!!! It seemed like it took FOREVER to finally get here. We invited my mom and stepdad to come spend it with us (see their pics above), my mom was especially excited about spending time with our two boys in Disney. So the plan was.. we get up around 2 am.. load up and hit the road no later than 3 am. I was hoping to make it to Disney in time to hit a late dinner or early supper at either ESPN club or one of our favorite places Earl of Sandwich!!!

So here is a pic of when I got started (I could not sleep anyway it was a parade night here in Louisiana and the neighbors were partying all night.. so I didn't get any sleep):

My mom and stepdad arrived..

And we were on the road at 2:57 am!!! I drove the first 5 hours straight. We made fantastic time..

Here comes the sunrise....and a few pics of the ride over...

We stopped for a quick breakfast.. and then for a quick lunch, my wife drove for just a bit.. then we finally started to see what we had long been waiting for..

First, an advertisement for the best investment we have ever made for our family:

Then the thing that every Disney freak longs for....

Finally.. we have arrived to our happy place

It was a fairly uneventful trip to Orlando.. just was a bit boring at times, but we had finally arrived!!!

Up Next- Arrival, the first night, and first installment of the pre-trip report for this coming summer!!!

Stay tuned!!!!

 

[Brave teacher]

Seeing the drive like that makes it seem like we are there so quickly when in reality it is not so.

Lola took you to that entrance? We went in by the skipped entrance from last year.

 

[Coach81]

Yep, Lola took us right into the entrance Even Alisa said Lola (what we call my GPS system from the movie RV) did a great job. She really did come through for us.. took us to contemporary, to Poly, Boardwalk, etc.
I could not go on vacation without her!

 

[Monorail Purple&Gold]

Found it, Coach!!!

Looking forward to the rest!

 

[alboq]

This is Coach's DW---Alisa---- That picture was taken at 2am!!!! I usually look a little better than that. We had a great time--even w/the in-laws Coach took a ton of pictures so this should be a good report. I'll stop by from time to time to give my side of the story----I'm a wife that's what I do!! HI to all thats aboard. (I like that little guy jumping up and down---makes me remember my cheerleading days)

 

[shordiebecka]

just found your pre-trip report! I can't believe you left so early in the morning..but good for you and being a trooper and driving looking forward to more!

 

[Coach81]

Found it, Coach!!!

Looking forward to the rest!

Hey Coach! Thanks for stopping by! Hope to make it a good one for you. I know you can't wait to head back yourself! Hopefully this will keep your addiction in check

This is Coach's DW---Alisa---- That picture was taken at 2am!!!! I usually look a little better than that. We had a great time--even w/the in-laws Coach took a ton of pictures so this should be a good report. I'll stop by from time to time to give my side of the story----I'm a wife that's what I do!! HI to all thats aboard. (I like that little guy jumping up and down---makes me remember my cheerleading days)

Hi honey!

just found your pre-trip report! I can't believe you left so early in the morning..but good for you and being a trooper and driving looking forward to more!

Yeah I was a "solja" as the kids say. But I have to give some props to "the wife" as well.. she knocked out an hour or so of the 10 hour trip as well. She is the best

Welcome Shordie! Thanks for checking me out.. LOTS MORE TO COME!!

 

[alboq]

It was more than one hour driving. See what happens when I turn my back. It was about 3hrs. He did do most of the driving. He did all of it on the trip back---we split that up into 2days. He did a great job---him and Lola make a great team---and I get to sleep.

 

[Monorail Purple&Gold]

It was more than one hour driving. See what happens when I turn my back.---him and Lola make a great team---and I get to sleep.

 

[Coach81]

We own DVC.. we love our DVC. We only have 150 points per year, however. So we usually only stay from Sunday - Thursday at our DVC resorts to save points. So this trip we decided we would come in on the Saturday and stay the first night here:

A wonderful place, that we have stayed several times in the past.

Here we are at arrival, and checkin..

So Excited!!!

So check in goes by without a problem, and we head to our rooms.

To my delight, we are poolside:

So everyone settles in.. unpacks our overnight bags (great planning by my wife), and we are set... but my mom forgets that she needs two more bags.. so I have to go back to the Van to get them.. no big deal... but the forget issue will linger throughout this trip...

We decide that we will visit downtown disney and go check out one of our favorite places to eat for supper - Earl of Sandwich - thanks for telling us about it, Brave teacher!

More on the DTD visit.. and the hell that was the first night for me.. later...

Pre-Trip report... first update:

We are planning on heading back to our happy home the week we all get out of school here in Louisiana.. which would be the last week of May. Based on this past trip's experience at Pop.. (story coming next), we will be splitting our stay between a cash ressie at our home resort- SSR, and the Boardwalk Villas (our first trip there, we are pumped). We are in the process of working out our dining plan.. we are currently leaning toward the quick service plan. I just need to call member services to see if we can somehow get it both stays (SSR and BWV) or if we can only get it for the three nights at BWV. So we are still kinda in the early stages of our summer trip planning phase.. but we can't wait

Up next: the trip to DTD, and our last night's stay at a value resort..

 

[coteau_chick]

I found you. I can't wait to read more. Faron's hand is looking better this morning. He just went back to bed so I have some computer time (not really I should be working on laundry but I blame you Alyssa for luring me here) . This is more fun anyway. I am so glad I got the meet you. Did Coach do a pretrip report for your 2008 Mardi Gras trip? I remember him doing one. I forgot what it was called. If he did, did he finish? I think he disappeared on us.

 

[Coach81]

Hey Coteau! Welcome! I believe I finished that pre-trip.. might have to go back and look it up

Just went back and looked it up, I did finish that pre-trip report

This will be my first Trip report / pre trip report...

DW told me that you've been having a real difficult time since you got back. So sorry to hear. Hope it all gets better real soon!

 

[Brave teacher]

Alisa - I knew when he said you drove an hour that it was probably longer than that.

BTW, no problem on introducing you to wonders of the Earl. We love that place.

Looking forward to the rest.

As far as swimming with us at Kidani, let's leave it up in the air. Neither Bryan nor I want to plan what time we are going to come back to the resort to swim. Let's say that we will give you a call on our way back to the resort from the parks.

 

[Coach81]

You got it, Brave! We'll just see how it works out with regard to the Kidani water area. My wife is stressing over tour guide Mike's predicted crowd levels for when we arrive in May. She said there is actually one day that there are NO GREEN PARKS

I told her that it will be ok.. we will just try to do a few rides that the kids really want to do... and perhaps spend a bit more time at the resort pools and whatnot. It's really no big deal to me.. I know I'll be coming back soon, its ok if we don't get to do everything.

 

[Coach81]

So we load up, and head out to Downtown Disney. Here are a few pics:

Notice Grandpa snuck in on this one with the boys:

Here we are in front of one of our favorite places to eat in all of Disney:

DW had the veggie sandwich and said it was one of the best sandwiches she has ever had! We love this place!! The sandwiches are fantastic!!!

Always let the boys drop a few $$$ here.. this year I bought myself a cool Mickey T-shirt and Polo

This last one is the last picture I took early in the morning of one of the longest nights I've ever had at Disney.

Here is the short story.. We get back from DTD, and all take our showers.. and settle in for the night. Well I happen to be a very light sleeper, and I always pack earplugs whenever I am away from home.. - they didn't help All night long.. I heard kids screaming and playing.. whether it was from the pool right outside our door, or them running around the outside of the rooms. I tossed, and turned.. and tried so hard to get some sleep.. but could not. Luckily the rest of the family had no problem going right to sleep. I was miserable. It was a long.. frustrating night. I finally got out of bed around 3 am and decided I might as well go take some pictures of our home resort SSR. I'll post of few of those later on. The next morning I told DW, "I don't care how much it costs.. we are never staying in a value again"!

I headed out the door, snapped the shot of our stairs (rubics cube shot above), and headed to SSR to try and sneak into the fitness center to get an early workout in. That will be part of the next update...

Up next- My secret workout at SSR at 4 am.. checkin.. and what happened to the hat???