Disney Dazzles in Dec___Updated 2/3/11

[BigTex71]

I'm in. Any room left on the front row? Warning: I may tend to heckle.

 

[jason4024]

I am here for the report. I would prefer an aisle seat, even if in the second or third row, due to the fact that I am 6'6".

 

[dvczerfs]

HERE!!!! i need a seat by the bathroom! i dont know what i ate the past few days but geeeze!!!!

 

[Disney Commando]

I think I hear the crickets from Don's TR close by I hope they don't move in

 

[BigTex71]

Uh, is it over? Did I blink and miss it?

 

[DisneyDaddy-O]

Present...

 

[that's nice]

 

[stopher1]

Better watch out... me thinks there might be some pirates lurking about...

 

[DisneyDadC]

The Journey​

Our trip was planned to leave Friday evening.I own my own business so I needed to have everything in-line before we could go.Did this happen? of course not.
Friday was a mess with work,seemed nothing wanted to go right.No need to bore you with the details of work, So we will skip to when I get home.Well after a busy day at work,I get home around oh 7 pm. Now mind you my wife wanted to leave around 6/6:30ish. So now we are already behind her schedule. Lucky for me all I have to do is pack my clothes(always wait till last minute),tidy up a few phone calls for work,then pack the car. No problem I jump right on it and have things ready by 8pm. The kids have been asking since 7pm "are we ready to go yet?" So now I finally say "Yes we are ready to go"
So here we go everyone starts piling in the car and we are set, off we go.But the trip comes to its first pit stop only seven mile from home. Here we stop to pick up my brother-in-law and niece (found out two days before my wife offered for them to ride down with us).So now we are really set 3 adults and 5 kids ,hit the road.
The official start time of our trip is now 8:45 pm Friday night. Start time is a little later then I was hoping for but nothing I could not make up for while on I95. The drive starts off great kids were well behaved and so were the adults.Traffic was good and everything was fine until we hit Virgina. Then boom it hit us a sign said I95 shut down please use alternate route.Ok well gee we are in the middle of nowhere with no exit how the heck we supposed to get off? the accident was only miles ahead of us ( you would have thought they would have posted a sign at the exit before accident).So now we are at a standstill.Lucky for us we must have caught it just at the time they were opening one lane.Thanks to this we only got held up for about 30 to 45 minutes.
Now we are back cruising and making up for some lost time if you know what I mean.Kids are all asleep at this time so it is very peaceful. After Virgina the ride was pretty much uneventful until S Carolina when A Big Buck decided to walk out into the middle of I95 and stop in the middle of the two lanes. Luckily I saw it coming across the grass before it walked onto the road. Seeing it early let me just slow down fast,without having to jamb on the breaks.So I was able to almost stop without hitting this deer but in doing so I let the tractor trailer that was pretty far behind me come barreling up on me.It was close the deer walked of the road and I got moving again before the truck hit us LOL. But is was close,to close for comfort.
Now we are back at full speed and kids still sleeping.

After driving through the night the kids finally start waking up one at a time.Now all kids are awake but being good.Now the questions start "are we there yet?" If only I had a dime for each time this was asked.

luckily for us most of our driving was at night so I can deal with this for just a few hrs. Just a few hrs into the morning I tell the kids to look on the right hand side and low and behold we see this

Now we are there,well in Florida that is. So we have to do our customary routine of stopping in the welcome center for our orange juice.

Ok time to get rolling again next stop The House Of The Mouse!!!!
So after a few more "are we there yets" and some "when are we going to be there's" We arrive!! we are now here 1:30 pm

Upon driving onto Disney property I call my father whom we are meeting at the resort ( Saratoga Springs Spa and Resort).While talking to my father he said he would meet us at the resort not really saying where he was.So now just a short little drive over to our resort.As we are turning to enter the gates to our home resort who pulls in right behind us? yep my father,the timing was perfect. As we were at the gate and the attendant said welcome home we new we were officially there!!!!

Saturday afternoon/night​

Ok now we are here,we park our car and everyone gets out to greet Pop and his female friend Kathy. Kids are are excited now and want to show Pop the resort.Didn't give him a minute to talk ,they just kept talking and talking.They were just so excited to see him.After about 15 mins of hellos we go and check in.I got my father and his guest a studio,And we will be staying in a two bedroom villa. We had requested the Grandstands and that's what we got (not the building we were hoping for ) but none the less the ones we requested.

The building we were in was a little ways away from the pool but hey its Dec who goes swimming???

[

Well we will but just not yet.We go and settle into our rooms and unpack our things.As usual the rooms were great.Everyone wrestles around for their beds and we all settle in. No sooner do we get settled and bam,we get the phone call that my wife's family has just arrived.So now everyone runs down to the carriage house to greet the other side of the family.Wow now our group is building. What started out as six of us driving down, grew to eight before we left,to 10 when we arrived then to 16 within 1/2 hr of getting here and still more to join us later.
After spending a few hours at the resort relaxing and unpacking We wanted to do something.Oh what to do??? I know what we can do I say.Why don't we head on over to Down Town Disney and meet up with some Dis Dads??
So of the the boat launch we go.Boat pulled up with no wait and on we get.Short little boat ride later there we are DTD.Here I was to meet up with some other Dis Dads for the Dis Dads Club here on the Dis.We were planning on meeting at Ghirardelli for some ice cream.Well the family didn't last long they wanted ice cream.So while I was meeting with some of the dads the family went in and got ice cream without me.This was one of the dads last night at Disney before his family went home so it was nice to get to see him and his family before they left. as far as the rest of them I will see them again later in our trip.

from left to right we have Christian aka "Chillcoupons", Dave aka "dvczerfs", Steve aka "Goherd1028", Barry aka "FreezinRafiki",and myself Carl aka "DisneyDadC"

Well after some time, the family came out from eating ice cream and informed me it was time to go back to the room they were tired and wanted to go to sleep. So off we go back to the room. We were not even back in the room for 30 minutes and the kids were all out like a light.Remember earlier I mentioned everyone wrestled around to pick out their beds.Well it did not matter for this night,as none of them made it to the rooms.They all crashed right on the couch.

Now with the kids sound asleep my wife heads out to the store to stock up on food for the week.I was not far behind the kids in going to sleep.!!! Have to get ready for day one!!!

 

[GoHerd1028]

Off to a good start!

 

[BigTex71]

Wow, 16+ family members on the trip? Just... wow!

 

[dvczerfs]

great start carl!!! ok, you worked all day friday and drove all night. when did you sleep?? great pics. man that car looks crampped. im the youngest of 5 but my sibs are alot older than me so i dont remember the car being full of kids and all the fun that comes with it.

 

[DisneyDadC]

Wow, 16+ family members on the trip? Just... wow!

I would say more then 16 family members,cause I consider the DDC one big family.

great start carl!!! ok, you worked all day friday and drove all night. when did you sleep?? great pics. man that car looks crampped. im the youngest of 5 but my sibs are alot older than me so i dont remember the car being full of kids and all the fun that comes with it.

I got my sleep about 1/2 hr after the kids fell asleep.You know why the wife was out shopping lol MY wife and Bro-in-law were supposed to help with the driving but you know hows that goes.I think I was able to cath 1 hr cap nap (2) 1/2 hr stints) while driving down.

Off to a good start!

Thanks buddy

Oh and I will have the usher walk you 3 down to the reserved section to sit with the other DDC members.

 

[afwdwfan]

I think I was able to cath 1 hr cap nap (2) 1/2 hr stints) while driving down.

Yeah, you can really get a good nap in behind the wheel.

On the serious side though, that would be a brutal drive... putting in a long day at work tying up loose ends and then making that drive through the night.

Love the picture with the kids all crashed out on the couch... that's what vacation is all about.

 

[honeydiane1953]

I am enjoying your TR. I just love when men get involved as so many HATE the idea must less writing this down.

 

[Disney Commando]

Carl, Great TR so far, your Resort looks really cool, Hope you got some sleep on the ride down, I noticed you were wide awake sitting in the pass seat, (I'm like that too when my wife is driving)

 

[BigTex71]

Hope you got some sleep on the ride down, I noticed you were wide awake sitting in the pass seat, (I'm like that too when my wife is driving)

Me, too! I cannot sleep while DW is driving... even if I have not slept in over 24 hours straight.

 

[afwdwfan]

(I'm like that too when my wife is driving)

My wife doesn't drink and the only time she ever drives is when we're out with friends and she is the DD. Come to think of it, I'm don't really know how good of a driver she is...

 

[Wherem I Now]

Work all day, drive all night? And still conscious for the Dis Dads meet? Can't wait to see how you do the parks!

Me, too! I cannot sleep while DW is driving... even if I have not slept in over 24 hours straight.

 

[FreezinRafiki]

OK, I hope what ever camera that was used to take this shot was set to "mirror" or something, because if you wife is driving and leaning over that far into the passenger seat, I can guarantee you I'm not looking as calm as you are here!

The building we were in was a little ways away from the pool but hey its Dec who goes swimming???

We did! The very next day.