dddisrunner
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Feb 24, 2007
- Messages
- 2,982
WELCOME! For all of you new to a dddisrunner trip report, HELLO and welcome aboard! This was a special trip, we were going to experience many things for the first time including a trip with our kids grandmothers! My name is Diane, I am a health and physical education teacher, loving wife to my husband Bryan of 11 years and mother to our 2 boys, Matthew 9 1/2 and Eric who turned 8 on this trip!
This trip was a surprise for the boys! We bought into DVC in the summer of 2008 and had last been to the world just this past summer! We were so excited to go during the fall and hoping for GREAT weather!
A little background for this trip...our town trick or treats on 10/30 instead of 10/31, it's a long story but it worked out PERFECTLY for us and this trip! I packed completely undetected and was quite relieved when the kids finally went to bed on 10/30. Bryan and I finished up all the last minute packing and loaded all the suitcases in the car. Bryan's mom had spend the night hat our house so she was already with us and ready to go; she will be referred to as Grandma during this report and my mom will be called GaGa!
I was too excited to sleep but eventually drifted off. At a very early 4:45am the alarm went off and we hopped out of bed and quickly got dressed and ready. My mom "GaGa" arrived at 5:00am and it was time to wake the boys and reveal the surprise!
Here is a video of the surprise! There was no "woo hoo" moment but Eric's reaction was PRICELESS! The video is about 2 minutes long but it is worth it!

Here are some early waking moment pictures!
The whole thing was so hilarious because Eric really thought we were lying! We ventured down to my bedroom to show him the surprise birthday gift we had for him on our bed! We had goofy set up with his ipod and a birthday card!
When he finally realized that we weren't lying and he saw the magical express stickers on the luggage he was EXCITED!
Everyone was EXCITED! We got the boys dressed and we were on our way to Philadelphia by 5:30am!! We arrived at the airport parked the car and I typed our parking section into my phone so we wouldn't forget where we parked! (remember that).
We checked in and made our way to our gate!
happy people waiting to head to sunny Disney World!
Our moms were THRILLED to be heading to WDW to see what all the fuss was about! My mom had never been to Disney without it being a band trip, as she used to do choreography for the local high school bandfront! Bryan's mom hadn't been since Eric was 5 months old and ALOT had changed!
We finally boarded the plane and we were surprised to see the flight attendants handing out candy! We forgot it was Halloween! The plane was even decorated!
We were also offered 1 free alcholic drink because it was a holiday! WOO HOO, you gotta love Southwest!!
We finally arrived in BEAUTIFUL, SUNNY FLORIDA!!! We made our way to the Magical Express and were SO HAPPY to finally be there!
The system is new now, we didn't have to go to the counter and check in, we went right to a podium and they put us in a line immediately!
We were told to get on line 4 as we were headed to the new Bay Lake Tower!!!
We were told to board after about 2 minutes and the bus was PACKED!! We were so happy to be headed to our happy place!
Grandma and Gaga experiencing Magical Express for the first time!
We were off! The bus driver came on and told us that the Polynesian was first, then Grand Floridian, then Wilderness Lodge THEN the Contemporary! Friends of ours (Lesley and Tim) had told us that they got off at the Poly and hopped the monorail to the Contemporary. I thought that was a BRILLIANT idea considering how full the bus was, well......................................it didn't work out so well for us! We caught a monorail right away but it stopped for 15 minutes at the Grand Floridian and about 10 minutes at the Magic Kingdom! UGHHHHHH! I just wanted to get checked in and start our vacation!!! turns out we arrived at the same time as the Magical Express bus! As it turned out I made an even BIGGER mistake when I actually walked al the way over to Bay lake Tower to check in! The check in is at the Contemporary and I did not know that! I felt VERY unprepared for this trip and that just proved it! FINALLY, I walked BACK over to the CR and checked us in! I requested a high floor and we booked a lake view! Our room was ready but our moms was not! We were on the 9th floor! WOO HOO!
CONTINUED IN THE NEXT POST!
Trip Report Links!
Day 1...you are here
Awesome holiday video!http://disboards.com/showthread.php?p=34246567&posted=1#post34246567
Day 2 part 1 DHS morning! http://disboards.com/showthread.php?p=34255267&posted=1#post34255267
Day 2 complete MNSSHP! http://disboards.com/showthread.php?p=34286167&posted=1#post34286167
Day 3 Eric's birthday part 1! http://disboards.com/showthread.php?p=34329906&posted=1#post34329906
Day 3 the end! http://disboards.com/showthread.php?p=34370532&posted=1#post34370532
DAY 4 complete! http://disboards.com/showthread.php?p=34433485&posted=1#post34433485
DAY 5 complete, starts here!http://disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2325495&page=12
DAY 6 complete! http://disboards.com/showthread.php?p=34565560&posted=1#post34565560
Christmas trip to NYC! http://disboards.com/showthread.php?p=34616845&posted=1#post34616845
This trip was a surprise for the boys! We bought into DVC in the summer of 2008 and had last been to the world just this past summer! We were so excited to go during the fall and hoping for GREAT weather!
A little background for this trip...our town trick or treats on 10/30 instead of 10/31, it's a long story but it worked out PERFECTLY for us and this trip! I packed completely undetected and was quite relieved when the kids finally went to bed on 10/30. Bryan and I finished up all the last minute packing and loaded all the suitcases in the car. Bryan's mom had spend the night hat our house so she was already with us and ready to go; she will be referred to as Grandma during this report and my mom will be called GaGa!
I was too excited to sleep but eventually drifted off. At a very early 4:45am the alarm went off and we hopped out of bed and quickly got dressed and ready. My mom "GaGa" arrived at 5:00am and it was time to wake the boys and reveal the surprise!
Here is a video of the surprise! There was no "woo hoo" moment but Eric's reaction was PRICELESS! The video is about 2 minutes long but it is worth it!

Here are some early waking moment pictures!



The whole thing was so hilarious because Eric really thought we were lying! We ventured down to my bedroom to show him the surprise birthday gift we had for him on our bed! We had goofy set up with his ipod and a birthday card!

When he finally realized that we weren't lying and he saw the magical express stickers on the luggage he was EXCITED!


Everyone was EXCITED! We got the boys dressed and we were on our way to Philadelphia by 5:30am!! We arrived at the airport parked the car and I typed our parking section into my phone so we wouldn't forget where we parked! (remember that).
We checked in and made our way to our gate!
happy people waiting to head to sunny Disney World!


Our moms were THRILLED to be heading to WDW to see what all the fuss was about! My mom had never been to Disney without it being a band trip, as she used to do choreography for the local high school bandfront! Bryan's mom hadn't been since Eric was 5 months old and ALOT had changed!
We finally boarded the plane and we were surprised to see the flight attendants handing out candy! We forgot it was Halloween! The plane was even decorated!

We were also offered 1 free alcholic drink because it was a holiday! WOO HOO, you gotta love Southwest!!
We finally arrived in BEAUTIFUL, SUNNY FLORIDA!!! We made our way to the Magical Express and were SO HAPPY to finally be there!

The system is new now, we didn't have to go to the counter and check in, we went right to a podium and they put us in a line immediately!


We were told to get on line 4 as we were headed to the new Bay Lake Tower!!!

We were told to board after about 2 minutes and the bus was PACKED!! We were so happy to be headed to our happy place!


Grandma and Gaga experiencing Magical Express for the first time!

We were off! The bus driver came on and told us that the Polynesian was first, then Grand Floridian, then Wilderness Lodge THEN the Contemporary! Friends of ours (Lesley and Tim) had told us that they got off at the Poly and hopped the monorail to the Contemporary. I thought that was a BRILLIANT idea considering how full the bus was, well......................................it didn't work out so well for us! We caught a monorail right away but it stopped for 15 minutes at the Grand Floridian and about 10 minutes at the Magic Kingdom! UGHHHHHH! I just wanted to get checked in and start our vacation!!! turns out we arrived at the same time as the Magical Express bus! As it turned out I made an even BIGGER mistake when I actually walked al the way over to Bay lake Tower to check in! The check in is at the Contemporary and I did not know that! I felt VERY unprepared for this trip and that just proved it! FINALLY, I walked BACK over to the CR and checked us in! I requested a high floor and we booked a lake view! Our room was ready but our moms was not! We were on the 9th floor! WOO HOO!
CONTINUED IN THE NEXT POST!
Trip Report Links!
Day 1...you are here
Awesome holiday video!http://disboards.com/showthread.php?p=34246567&posted=1#post34246567
Day 2 part 1 DHS morning! http://disboards.com/showthread.php?p=34255267&posted=1#post34255267
Day 2 complete MNSSHP! http://disboards.com/showthread.php?p=34286167&posted=1#post34286167
Day 3 Eric's birthday part 1! http://disboards.com/showthread.php?p=34329906&posted=1#post34329906
Day 3 the end! http://disboards.com/showthread.php?p=34370532&posted=1#post34370532
DAY 4 complete! http://disboards.com/showthread.php?p=34433485&posted=1#post34433485
DAY 5 complete, starts here!http://disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2325495&page=12
DAY 6 complete! http://disboards.com/showthread.php?p=34565560&posted=1#post34565560
Christmas trip to NYC! http://disboards.com/showthread.php?p=34616845&posted=1#post34616845