DISNEY TRIP
ALL STAR MUSIC
DELTA Detroit-Orlando
YOUR RIDE VAN
ALL WDW PARKS
JUNE 15, 2002 Through June 22, 2002
CAST:
Rich aka Coldpony on the Boards. Husband to Melissa. Dad to Jacob, Katie, and Hannah. 31 year old Sales Analyst. 8th Trip to WDW. Status: MASTER TRIP PLANNER AND AUTHOR OF TRIP REPORT.
Melissa. Wife to Rich. Mom to Jacob, Katie, and Hannah. Friend to Tami. Soon to be 30 years old. Finance / Accounting Supervisor for our city. 7th Trip to WDW (pregnant during two of the previous trips...please, let's not have that happen again). Status: ADDICTED PIN TRADER
Jacob. Son to Rich and Melissa. Brother to Katie and Hannah. Friends with Becca and Michelle. Recent Kindergarten Graduate. 2nd Disney Trip (3rd if you include the trip in mommys tummy). STATUS: ROCK N ROLLER COASTER JEDI KNIGHT.
Katie. Daughter to Rich and Melissa. Sister to Jacob. Twin Sister to Hannah. Loves Becca and Michelle. Graduated from 1st year of pre-school. 2nd Disney Trip (3rd if you include trip in mommy's tummy). Celebrating 4th birthday at Disney World. STATUS: EAGLE EYES FOR ICE CREAM CARTS.
Hannah. Daughter to Rich and Melissa. Sister to Jacob. Twin Sister to Katie. Loves Becca and Michelle. Graduated from 1st year of pre-school. 2nd Disney Trip (3rd if you include trip in mommy's tummy). Celebrating 4th birthday at Disney World. STATUS: GOOFY BARNSTORMER NEVER AGAIN DADDY.
Tami. Friend to Melissa and Rich. Mom to Becca and Michelle. Thirty Something. Works at City with Melissa. 2nd Disney Trip. STATUS: CLASS A Get Richs Wife Addicted To Pin Trading (I think she must get commission from Disney for Pin Sales).
Becca. Daughter to Tami. Sister to Michelle. Friends with Jacob, Katie, Hannah. 11 Years Old. 2nd Trip To WDW. STATUS: TOP GUN COASTER PILOT soon to be PIN ADDICT.
Michelle. Daughter to Tami. Sister to Becca. Friends with Jacob, Katie, Hannah. 10 Years Old. 2nd Trip To WDW. STATUS: MAJOR CM LANYARD SPOTTER.
TRIP BACKGROUND:
The eight of us were sitting around watching movies and eating pizza one wintery Saturday night in west Michigan when I mentioned that my boss was leaving for WDW in the morning. Melissa and Tami jokingly said they wished they were leaving too as we had about 20 inches of snow on the ground and it was still coming down. So I jumped on the internet out of curiosity to see what airfares looked like. Most flights out of Grand Rapids were in the upper $400 range so I switched over to Detroit Metro and found flights for under $200 RT. Hmmm, thats not too bad. So we joked a little more about hotels. Jumped on again and found out about an internet code that could get us into the All Stars pretty darn cheap (with five in my family the only place we can stay on site is Dixie Landings and we didnt care for it last time. So by having Tami and her two girls come along, we could share connecting rooms at the All Stars for all 8 of us). We joked around a little more and then got pretty serious. We decided that if we waited until the kids were out of school/dance/karate etc we could save up enough $$$ to go for it. So that Cold, Wintery Night we booked the flights out of Detroit, ALL STAR MUSIC, and joined the Disney Club to get 6 day Hopper Plus passes on Discount for June 15-22. Then 4 months of trip planning, board reading, and PS phone calls.
DAY ONE: SATURDAY JUNE 15 Orlando or Bust
Luckily we have an 8 passenger Montana MiniVan and with the eight of us, 5 suit cases, the double side by side stroller, 3 back packs, 1 large duffle bag, and a bag full of 4 game boys and accessories, I thought we would bust on our 3 hour drive to Detroit. We left Holland at 7:20am and made good time to Kalamazoo. I then decided I better go through the packing list to be sure we didnt forget anything critical...plane tickets...check...hoppers....check....Priority Seating numbers...check...kids....check...cloths....check....carry ons....check....kitties, silkies, piggy, raggy (all things needed for the kids to sleep at night) ...check .... ....camera ....camera.....CAMERA!!!!
We forgot the camera, oh well, so we stop at Meijers buy a camera ($150) and hit Burger King for Breakfast. The camera is not a big deal as I will put in my tackle box on the boat for fishing pictures when we get home.
Oh I forgot to mention that just before we left home my wife announced that she had packed all of her bras in her suitcase. And of course her suitcase was in the luggage carrier all strapped in.....grrrrrrr.
We got to Detroit Metro in plenty of time. We used Delta curbside check in, unloaded the van and kids. Melissa, Tami and the kids headed in. I parked the van in the Green Economy Lot ($8 a day) and a shuttle was right there to bring me back to the terminal. We were reunited in less than 15 minutes. Check in was smooth with no problems at all and then off to security check gate.
We waited no more than 5 minutes at security for our turn. Melissa was asked to be searched. No big deal, just looked through her purse, carry on, and used a metal detector wand around her body, asked to see her shoes, and we were done.
Kids played with their Game Boys and then we boarded. We gate checked the stroller with no problems. Kids were excellent on the plane, stayed seated and buckled the entire time. We landed in Atlanta on time, had time for lunch so we ate and then jumped back on another plane. Again no problems at all. Deplaned in Orlando, grabbed the stroller and headed to baggage claim.
Half way down the escalator we spotted Rabbit from Your Ride holding our name up. He was extremely helpful showed us where to pick up our luggage, carried a few of the bags, brought us up to the loading zone, showed us where to wait while he grabbed the van. He was back within 5 minutes, got us all loaded and buckled up, had boosters available for the kids, and had SHREK playing on his LapTop DVD PLAYER for the kids to watch. He took us to the Grocery Store and entertained the kids and I while the Moms shopped. Of course the twins had to go potty so he helped Becca and the twins cross through the busy parking lot while I stayed with the other kids. Finally the Moms were done shopping and we were off again. He gave us lots of little tidbits and suggestions for our trip. Once we arrived at ALL STAR MUSIC, he again helped unload the van and helped the kids out of the van, He went and got Bell Services to load up a cart for us and had them store our luggage while we checked in. We paid him with American Express and he told us he would pick us up next Saturday at 6am (yuck!!! But it was the right time). (He even called us in our room and left us a message Friday that he was still planning on getting us at 6am the next day and for us not to worry about him not showing up!).
It was now about 9pm and we walked right up and checked in. We did get connecting rooms, which was our number one request as Melissa would be sleeping with Tami, Becca and Michelle while I would be with Jacob, Katie, and Hannah. I had requested either Calypso or Jazz but no connecting rooms were available. Only COUNTRY had connecting rooms available. Oh well, I figured it cant be that long of a walk....oops, more on that later!
I used my American Express Card and asked for the White Glove package and received a discount book (one for each room), and a set of two lanyards and two pins for each room.
We also bought our e-Night Tickets as we checked in.
Now we were off to find rooms 6614 and 6615 in the Country Building. The first walk to find the rooms didnt seem too bad as we were able to see the WHOLE resort and had a lot to look at. Country Buildings are the farthest buildings away from the check in area and bus stops. It was close to a 5-10 minute walk to get back to the food court / bus stops/ front desk area depending if I was walking alone or pushing the loaded down stroller. Dont get me wrong, I LOVED the hotel and didnt really mind the walk, just didnt enjoy the walk. I think they need to think about a couple of things to make it a little easier for the people in the back half of the resort. I think they should add a second bus stop at the Country end of the resort, or add a tram of some type that circles the resort. I also think they need to add a mug refill station in each section of building or at least by each of the pools. I am pretty sure we did not get our moneys worth out of the mugs because it was such a long walk to the food court. I found myself pumping money into the pop machine by our room ($1 for a can of diet coke). The pools are well themed and fun to swim in with lots of seating around them. Melissa says to warn people that the dryers in the laundry room were about worthless.
The food court was the best food court I have seen at WDW and the food was very good. They had every possible drink you could think of from chocolate milk to Gatorade type drinks to pop to water to juice etc... The food consisted of fresh desserts, fruits, prime rib, salads, chicken strips, hot dogs, hamburgs, pizza, wraps, etc... Something for everyone and priced fairly reasonably (at least as far as WDW goes).
They also had a nice arcade, tattoos, and hair wraps available. At the arcade you can check out a swim life jackets for free for the length of your stay. These worked great for the twins!
Our room was also very nice. I immediately moved the night stand, and pushed the two double beds together into the corner making a Super King size bed for my three kids and I to sleep on and moved the night stand to the open side of the bed. This allowed the wall to work as a bed rail on one side, and I was the bed rail on the other side. This also opened up the front part of the room as a large play area for the kids, and a place to dry out the strollers and ponchos, and layout the luggage. We had a full size tub / shower combo with a toilet in the enclosed bathroom. The sink and mirror were outside of the bathroom area. I remember someone complaining that there were no tubs and just a drain on the floor, maybe this was a handicap room or something special???
I didnt notice the room being smaller than any of the moderates we have stayed at (Dixie Landings, Port Orleans, Caribbean Beach, or Coronado Springs) and the walk was about the same as we had at CBR. It would just be nice to have a bus stop closer.
Our room was always clean and the maids always did something cute with the stuffed animals and toys the kids had. Extra towels were always available on a cart by the elevators and the A/C worked great. We had bought a styrofoam cooler at the grocery store and kept our milk and drinks cold with ice from the ice machines all week.
Ok back to the trip report:
Once we got all unpacked, I got the kids ready and went down for a swim, while the Moms headed out to get dinner for us, look around, and get mugs. It was about 10pm now so we swam for about an hour switching pools half way through (we decided we liked the piano pool the best as it was always less crowded). The Moms finally showed up and we ate chicken fingers, fries, sand whiches and some fruit. Then it was time for showers and bed. Missy and Tami showed me a couple of pins they bought, I thought they were pretty cute...(If I only knew what had just started).... All three of my kids were asleep within two minutes of hitting their pillows!!! (That never happens) So I watched US Open Golf highlights and hit the sack too.
A very successful 1st day!!!
ALL STAR MUSIC
DELTA Detroit-Orlando
YOUR RIDE VAN
ALL WDW PARKS
JUNE 15, 2002 Through June 22, 2002
CAST:
Rich aka Coldpony on the Boards. Husband to Melissa. Dad to Jacob, Katie, and Hannah. 31 year old Sales Analyst. 8th Trip to WDW. Status: MASTER TRIP PLANNER AND AUTHOR OF TRIP REPORT.
Melissa. Wife to Rich. Mom to Jacob, Katie, and Hannah. Friend to Tami. Soon to be 30 years old. Finance / Accounting Supervisor for our city. 7th Trip to WDW (pregnant during two of the previous trips...please, let's not have that happen again). Status: ADDICTED PIN TRADER
Jacob. Son to Rich and Melissa. Brother to Katie and Hannah. Friends with Becca and Michelle. Recent Kindergarten Graduate. 2nd Disney Trip (3rd if you include the trip in mommys tummy). STATUS: ROCK N ROLLER COASTER JEDI KNIGHT.
Katie. Daughter to Rich and Melissa. Sister to Jacob. Twin Sister to Hannah. Loves Becca and Michelle. Graduated from 1st year of pre-school. 2nd Disney Trip (3rd if you include trip in mommy's tummy). Celebrating 4th birthday at Disney World. STATUS: EAGLE EYES FOR ICE CREAM CARTS.
Hannah. Daughter to Rich and Melissa. Sister to Jacob. Twin Sister to Katie. Loves Becca and Michelle. Graduated from 1st year of pre-school. 2nd Disney Trip (3rd if you include trip in mommy's tummy). Celebrating 4th birthday at Disney World. STATUS: GOOFY BARNSTORMER NEVER AGAIN DADDY.
Tami. Friend to Melissa and Rich. Mom to Becca and Michelle. Thirty Something. Works at City with Melissa. 2nd Disney Trip. STATUS: CLASS A Get Richs Wife Addicted To Pin Trading (I think she must get commission from Disney for Pin Sales).
Becca. Daughter to Tami. Sister to Michelle. Friends with Jacob, Katie, Hannah. 11 Years Old. 2nd Trip To WDW. STATUS: TOP GUN COASTER PILOT soon to be PIN ADDICT.
Michelle. Daughter to Tami. Sister to Becca. Friends with Jacob, Katie, Hannah. 10 Years Old. 2nd Trip To WDW. STATUS: MAJOR CM LANYARD SPOTTER.
TRIP BACKGROUND:
The eight of us were sitting around watching movies and eating pizza one wintery Saturday night in west Michigan when I mentioned that my boss was leaving for WDW in the morning. Melissa and Tami jokingly said they wished they were leaving too as we had about 20 inches of snow on the ground and it was still coming down. So I jumped on the internet out of curiosity to see what airfares looked like. Most flights out of Grand Rapids were in the upper $400 range so I switched over to Detroit Metro and found flights for under $200 RT. Hmmm, thats not too bad. So we joked a little more about hotels. Jumped on again and found out about an internet code that could get us into the All Stars pretty darn cheap (with five in my family the only place we can stay on site is Dixie Landings and we didnt care for it last time. So by having Tami and her two girls come along, we could share connecting rooms at the All Stars for all 8 of us). We joked around a little more and then got pretty serious. We decided that if we waited until the kids were out of school/dance/karate etc we could save up enough $$$ to go for it. So that Cold, Wintery Night we booked the flights out of Detroit, ALL STAR MUSIC, and joined the Disney Club to get 6 day Hopper Plus passes on Discount for June 15-22. Then 4 months of trip planning, board reading, and PS phone calls.
DAY ONE: SATURDAY JUNE 15 Orlando or Bust
Luckily we have an 8 passenger Montana MiniVan and with the eight of us, 5 suit cases, the double side by side stroller, 3 back packs, 1 large duffle bag, and a bag full of 4 game boys and accessories, I thought we would bust on our 3 hour drive to Detroit. We left Holland at 7:20am and made good time to Kalamazoo. I then decided I better go through the packing list to be sure we didnt forget anything critical...plane tickets...check...hoppers....check....Priority Seating numbers...check...kids....check...cloths....check....carry ons....check....kitties, silkies, piggy, raggy (all things needed for the kids to sleep at night) ...check .... ....camera ....camera.....CAMERA!!!!
We forgot the camera, oh well, so we stop at Meijers buy a camera ($150) and hit Burger King for Breakfast. The camera is not a big deal as I will put in my tackle box on the boat for fishing pictures when we get home.
Oh I forgot to mention that just before we left home my wife announced that she had packed all of her bras in her suitcase. And of course her suitcase was in the luggage carrier all strapped in.....grrrrrrr.
We got to Detroit Metro in plenty of time. We used Delta curbside check in, unloaded the van and kids. Melissa, Tami and the kids headed in. I parked the van in the Green Economy Lot ($8 a day) and a shuttle was right there to bring me back to the terminal. We were reunited in less than 15 minutes. Check in was smooth with no problems at all and then off to security check gate.
We waited no more than 5 minutes at security for our turn. Melissa was asked to be searched. No big deal, just looked through her purse, carry on, and used a metal detector wand around her body, asked to see her shoes, and we were done.
Kids played with their Game Boys and then we boarded. We gate checked the stroller with no problems. Kids were excellent on the plane, stayed seated and buckled the entire time. We landed in Atlanta on time, had time for lunch so we ate and then jumped back on another plane. Again no problems at all. Deplaned in Orlando, grabbed the stroller and headed to baggage claim.
Half way down the escalator we spotted Rabbit from Your Ride holding our name up. He was extremely helpful showed us where to pick up our luggage, carried a few of the bags, brought us up to the loading zone, showed us where to wait while he grabbed the van. He was back within 5 minutes, got us all loaded and buckled up, had boosters available for the kids, and had SHREK playing on his LapTop DVD PLAYER for the kids to watch. He took us to the Grocery Store and entertained the kids and I while the Moms shopped. Of course the twins had to go potty so he helped Becca and the twins cross through the busy parking lot while I stayed with the other kids. Finally the Moms were done shopping and we were off again. He gave us lots of little tidbits and suggestions for our trip. Once we arrived at ALL STAR MUSIC, he again helped unload the van and helped the kids out of the van, He went and got Bell Services to load up a cart for us and had them store our luggage while we checked in. We paid him with American Express and he told us he would pick us up next Saturday at 6am (yuck!!! But it was the right time). (He even called us in our room and left us a message Friday that he was still planning on getting us at 6am the next day and for us not to worry about him not showing up!).
It was now about 9pm and we walked right up and checked in. We did get connecting rooms, which was our number one request as Melissa would be sleeping with Tami, Becca and Michelle while I would be with Jacob, Katie, and Hannah. I had requested either Calypso or Jazz but no connecting rooms were available. Only COUNTRY had connecting rooms available. Oh well, I figured it cant be that long of a walk....oops, more on that later!
I used my American Express Card and asked for the White Glove package and received a discount book (one for each room), and a set of two lanyards and two pins for each room.
We also bought our e-Night Tickets as we checked in.
Now we were off to find rooms 6614 and 6615 in the Country Building. The first walk to find the rooms didnt seem too bad as we were able to see the WHOLE resort and had a lot to look at. Country Buildings are the farthest buildings away from the check in area and bus stops. It was close to a 5-10 minute walk to get back to the food court / bus stops/ front desk area depending if I was walking alone or pushing the loaded down stroller. Dont get me wrong, I LOVED the hotel and didnt really mind the walk, just didnt enjoy the walk. I think they need to think about a couple of things to make it a little easier for the people in the back half of the resort. I think they should add a second bus stop at the Country end of the resort, or add a tram of some type that circles the resort. I also think they need to add a mug refill station in each section of building or at least by each of the pools. I am pretty sure we did not get our moneys worth out of the mugs because it was such a long walk to the food court. I found myself pumping money into the pop machine by our room ($1 for a can of diet coke). The pools are well themed and fun to swim in with lots of seating around them. Melissa says to warn people that the dryers in the laundry room were about worthless.
The food court was the best food court I have seen at WDW and the food was very good. They had every possible drink you could think of from chocolate milk to Gatorade type drinks to pop to water to juice etc... The food consisted of fresh desserts, fruits, prime rib, salads, chicken strips, hot dogs, hamburgs, pizza, wraps, etc... Something for everyone and priced fairly reasonably (at least as far as WDW goes).
They also had a nice arcade, tattoos, and hair wraps available. At the arcade you can check out a swim life jackets for free for the length of your stay. These worked great for the twins!
Our room was also very nice. I immediately moved the night stand, and pushed the two double beds together into the corner making a Super King size bed for my three kids and I to sleep on and moved the night stand to the open side of the bed. This allowed the wall to work as a bed rail on one side, and I was the bed rail on the other side. This also opened up the front part of the room as a large play area for the kids, and a place to dry out the strollers and ponchos, and layout the luggage. We had a full size tub / shower combo with a toilet in the enclosed bathroom. The sink and mirror were outside of the bathroom area. I remember someone complaining that there were no tubs and just a drain on the floor, maybe this was a handicap room or something special???
I didnt notice the room being smaller than any of the moderates we have stayed at (Dixie Landings, Port Orleans, Caribbean Beach, or Coronado Springs) and the walk was about the same as we had at CBR. It would just be nice to have a bus stop closer.
Our room was always clean and the maids always did something cute with the stuffed animals and toys the kids had. Extra towels were always available on a cart by the elevators and the A/C worked great. We had bought a styrofoam cooler at the grocery store and kept our milk and drinks cold with ice from the ice machines all week.
Ok back to the trip report:
Once we got all unpacked, I got the kids ready and went down for a swim, while the Moms headed out to get dinner for us, look around, and get mugs. It was about 10pm now so we swam for about an hour switching pools half way through (we decided we liked the piano pool the best as it was always less crowded). The Moms finally showed up and we ate chicken fingers, fries, sand whiches and some fruit. Then it was time for showers and bed. Missy and Tami showed me a couple of pins they bought, I thought they were pretty cute...(If I only knew what had just started).... All three of my kids were asleep within two minutes of hitting their pillows!!! (That never happens) So I watched US Open Golf highlights and hit the sack too.
A very successful 1st day!!!
