BigTikiDaddy
DIS Dad #574 Mississauga, Ontario, Canada
- Joined
- Jun 28, 2010
Okay, I need to get at this sooner then later, before I forget more and more details. My name is Brent, and this is my first attempt at a trip report.
The cast: Myself, a 37 yr old LCBO employee from Mississauga, Ontario , Canada(I sell liquor). This would be trip #5 for me
My DW Jodi, "younger then me, all that matters"her 6th or 7th trip...
DD1 Amelia, 6 years, closer to seven, her 4th trip
DD2 Audrey, 3 years, her second go at this...
Okay, really that's all we need to know...
The genesis of this trip can be traced to March 4th of this year.I was working nights, and doing what I always do the morning before work. Wasting time on the laptop. I had gotten a Disney Destination email about a Free Dining Promo and thought "meh".This was not supposed to a trip year, and had already booked my vacation time at work. It did not fall on the dining dates, so that was that. I played around with the trip booking, but did not think much of it. August 2012 was the next planned trip.
Then I got that fatefull phonecall....
Jo called to see what I was up to. (I was likely supposed to be cleaning or something to that effect.) She also had some good news: thanks to all the child care $$ we pay, we were getting a ....nice... return in our taxes! I commented on the dining promo and next thing you know, we are looking just a bit harder at it. Would it be feasible? Well would it?
By the time March Break rolled around a couple weeks later, we decided to give it a go. We set up a rough schedual based on my time off booked, and went and booked the ADRs for dining, figuring we'd book now and hope for the best. Then went off to visit Rosemarie at CAA, our preferred travel agent. She got us a nice deal based on their "Kids Stay and Play Free" promo and on March 17th, we put down the deposit. We were heading again!
I played around my options for the flight, because if you were not aware, it is stupidly expensive to fly in Canada. We wated to check our flight options from the US of A. Buffalo or Detroit? Buffalo is an hour or so away from here, Detroit roughly the same from Jo's Mom's house in Sarnia Ontario. So after much deliberation, I went with......FLINT MI!
Why Flint? Four reasons stood out. One: only an hour and a half from Sarnia, so can be close. Two: NICE prices. Three: It was a smaller airport, and Four: The flight times were very nice. (Morning Flight in, evening Flight out) By the end of May, it was all paid off, and we got most of our spending cash when the dollar rose higher then the US's meaning we saved a bit! It was all falling into place.....
The cast: Myself, a 37 yr old LCBO employee from Mississauga, Ontario , Canada(I sell liquor). This would be trip #5 for me
My DW Jodi, "younger then me, all that matters"her 6th or 7th trip...
DD1 Amelia, 6 years, closer to seven, her 4th trip
DD2 Audrey, 3 years, her second go at this...
Okay, really that's all we need to know...
The genesis of this trip can be traced to March 4th of this year.I was working nights, and doing what I always do the morning before work. Wasting time on the laptop. I had gotten a Disney Destination email about a Free Dining Promo and thought "meh".This was not supposed to a trip year, and had already booked my vacation time at work. It did not fall on the dining dates, so that was that. I played around with the trip booking, but did not think much of it. August 2012 was the next planned trip.
Then I got that fatefull phonecall....
Jo called to see what I was up to. (I was likely supposed to be cleaning or something to that effect.) She also had some good news: thanks to all the child care $$ we pay, we were getting a ....nice... return in our taxes! I commented on the dining promo and next thing you know, we are looking just a bit harder at it. Would it be feasible? Well would it?
By the time March Break rolled around a couple weeks later, we decided to give it a go. We set up a rough schedual based on my time off booked, and went and booked the ADRs for dining, figuring we'd book now and hope for the best. Then went off to visit Rosemarie at CAA, our preferred travel agent. She got us a nice deal based on their "Kids Stay and Play Free" promo and on March 17th, we put down the deposit. We were heading again!
I played around my options for the flight, because if you were not aware, it is stupidly expensive to fly in Canada. We wated to check our flight options from the US of A. Buffalo or Detroit? Buffalo is an hour or so away from here, Detroit roughly the same from Jo's Mom's house in Sarnia Ontario. So after much deliberation, I went with......FLINT MI!
Why Flint? Four reasons stood out. One: only an hour and a half from Sarnia, so can be close. Two: NICE prices. Three: It was a smaller airport, and Four: The flight times were very nice. (Morning Flight in, evening Flight out) By the end of May, it was all paid off, and we got most of our spending cash when the dollar rose higher then the US's meaning we saved a bit! It was all falling into place.....
. We split two banna splits for the four of us, kids got the grab bags, and we were full if not cooled off a bit. The sun was just brutal! Headed for the buses and noticed a lot more geckos then we were used to, the girls loved it. Headed back to the room and hit the pool. I was last to get in, and before I did Jo apologized....for what? She knew I hate warm pool water, and man it was warm! Not overly cooling, but we made the best of it, and swam for while, and then headed back for more rest. Headed to the food court for dinner, got our mugs and sat by the window close to the Hippy-Dippy pool, watched the sky, it was getting darker and darker, and a bit of rain. Thought I saw lightningm, and yup, people exited the pool area moments later, storm hit. Finished dinner and browsed the shop, and made our way in the rain back to the room. It was still fairly early, and we crashed for the night, it had beeen a very long day, long flight, and the heat made us weary. Plus wanted to make DHS rope drop the next morning. Fell asleep listening to the storm trail away in the distance.
for easy border crossings and flights!
for long check-in lines...
I guess adrenaline was going good. I snuck out of the room without waking the kids, DW kinda heard me, but she can sleep in a snap. Took the mugs out with me and walked around Hourglass Lake, and up the Generation Gap bridge as far as I could go, checking out the Art of Animation resort progess. Kinda eerie, looking right into the buildings with the lights on, seeing the hallways etc. Sauntered to the Everything POP at the 6am opening and looked around the gift shop a little, then grabbed drinks for everyone and made my way back, finally waking the family up around 7. Cereal bars for a light breakfast and showers, wanting to head out for 8 to the Studios for our first full Disney Day. Bused on over, and waited to get in. We werelet in with the masses at 8:30, where I got to experience my first ever ROPE DROP!
