We're back and our vacation was absolutely, totally and completely WONDERFUL!!! Except for some rather hilarious exploits.
Our quick background: Our family of three decided that WDW should be our first family vacation in 2002 when my wife (Robin DW43) and I (Steve DH42) decided to road trip to Florida with our DD (Lauren, then DD5, now DD11). It was such a magical experience that we repeated it again in 2003 to see all the things we had missed. In 2004, we made the same trip, but we took in Universal, Sea World, and Discovery Cove. They were great in their own ways, but in 2005 and 2006, we again returned to WDW since we had fallen in love with it. In 2007, my DW obtained her Masters Degree so we couldn't go on vacation (too much time at school for her). So 2008 was to be a WDW trip worth remembering because we hadn't been there for two years and we had time to make up for!!!
On our last trip, we had our 1995 Ford Windstar minivan with its third row seat removed. The trip from Northern Illinois was never a problem when it came to holding our luggage and keeping us comfy. We now have a 2007 Mercury Mariner (sister small SUV to the Ford Escape and Mazda Tribute). I had the oil changed and I washed/waxed/vacuumed/Armor Alled the little truck for our trip. We bought a $199 XCargo roof luggage carrier from Sears and I test fitted it a few days before our trip. We needed the extra space because we bring a large, wheeled, RubberMaid cooler full of Coke Zero, Fanta Orange Zero, Minute Maid Light lemonade, Diet Mountain Dew Code Red and Diet Mountain Dew. We all love these beverages and the 24 oz resealable bottles go along way to saving money on drinks during our trip.
I was amazed at how well the roof luggage storage worked. It was virtually silent during the whole drive time. No wind noise due to its aerodynamic design. I'm glad we bought the one we did. It opens from the rear with its key lock. I had no problem reaching the soft side luggage we use (three bags) due to my 6'4" height and the fact that I even parked next to a curb each time to make it even easier. We had a ton of room in the back of our Mariner for everything else...we even had room to spare.
So with Mickey and Minnie on the back of our roof (I epoxied magnets into holes I drilled in these Happy Meal rubber toys to hold them on the roof), a Mickey antenna topper, and a Tinkerbell license plate frame to let everyone know where we were headed, we hit the road!
Our rules are simple. When anyone needs to stop, we stop. But it seemed that we were always ready at the same time to stretch our legs, fuel up the Mariner, grab a snack and use the washroom at the same time. We left our home at 4:15 in the morning. We stopped at a Best Western of I-75, just south of Atlanta at around 6:00 pm. We had dinner at a Fuddruckers and swam in the hotel's indoor pool. It was very relaxing and recharged our batteries.
I'll list some numbers here for those interested. Our total gasoline expenditures were $458.14 round trip (which includes driving to Vero Beach). Our cost for the one night hotel was $100, so that totals at $558.14...which is much, much less expensive than what today's cost for round trip airfare would have been for all three of us from O'Hare to Orlando. We would have to add in a rental car for travelling from WDW to Vero Beach and back to the airport too.
The next morning, we were on the road by 6:00 am. We always stop for photos and our free shot glass of orange juice at the Florida Welcome Center!
We never saw a drop of rain during our drive down to Florida. It was uneventful. It is amazing how easy the drive is when the speed limit is 70 mph. Our DD11, Lauren had a DVD player but didn't use it at all. She loves to read and I took her to a local used bookstore where she picked out a bunch of stuff she thought she'd like. I had to ask her to look up when we crossed into Kentucky (over the Ohio river on the huge bridge) and into Tennessee and into Georgia and back into Tennessee and then back into Georgia (that crazy I-24) and through the gorgeous Smokey Mountains.
The new 429 highway branches off the Florida Turnpike and pulls you right up at the "back" of WDW. Instead of taking 4, this new road doesn't let you see Orlando or any of the other attractions in the city. You just appear at Walt Disney World. I wonder what it cost for Disney to subsidize that tollway?
We had no wait on a Monday at around 1:30 pm to check into the Coronado Springs Resort. This was our first repeat stay at a resort and we loved teh Coronado Springs!!! Everything went smooth except for our Disney VISA card not being accepted (yikes!). I figured out that I had booked this vacation last year and had since received a new card, with a new expiration date, and they were still using the old card's expiration date to check us in. Once I noted that, everything was great. We had a list of our ADR's printed out by concierge and got our Hoop Dee Doo Revue tickets as well.
Our room was a waterview on the AAA discount for room only. It was ready and we unloaded our stuff. We were very happy that the room was on the first floor and had a quiet and amazingly beautiful view from out door/window. Here's the view:
Here's a couple more Coronado Springs Resort pics. We love the theming and the colors. The lake is stunning in the morning and at night!
We had bought 7 Day Park Hopper Tickets from www.floridaorlandotickets.net so we decided to go to Animal Kingdom since we had arrived so early on our second day of vacation. It was EMH at AK and we figured we'd stay late. We saw the parade, and went on the Kilamanjaro Safari.
We took the train to Rafiki's Planet Watch and met Jimminy Cricket and Pocahontas.
We had dinner at the Pizza Safari and then after 8pm, during EMH, we laughed ourselves silly at It's Tough To Be A Bug and scared ourselves silly on Dinosaur and Expedition Everest. The only thing we didn't get to do was see the new Finding Nemo show. While DW and DD11 went on the Primeval Whirl (not for me, the only ride I won't go on, those twists and turns kill me!), I had a Mickey Ice Cream bar. When I went to pay, the Cast Member said, "This is a magical moment for sir, you ice cream is free!" Yeah! That was our one and only magical moment. It was a nice little treat! We also saw Festival of the Lion King at night when it was rather cool out. Boy is that show fantastic!!!
Our second Park day was at MK for Early Entry EMH.
We rode Space Mountain and Buzz Lightyear's space ranger spin, saw the hilarious and very well done Monsters Inc Laugh Floor, the Carousel of Progress (an old time fav) all before breakfast at Cinderella's Royal Table. CRT was great as always.
We went on POTC after our late breakfast and then we had just a bit of rain. It was enough to make us not go on the Jungle Cruise (closed down) and by ponchos (which we barely used).
We headed back to our room and swam in the Dig Site pool. Then we dressed for dinner and bussed to MK so we could ferry to Fort Wilderness for the Hoop Dee Doo. It had been 6 years since the HDD.
Our DD11 laughed herself out of breath at this dinner show. Everyone needs to see the HDD at least once. It was great!
On our ferry ride back to MK, we got to see the Electric Light Water Parade. We'd never seen it before so it was an extra treat. I would recommend the 7:15 HDD so that you might get to see this nighttime water float on your way back to the MK docks.
(more coming)
Our quick background: Our family of three decided that WDW should be our first family vacation in 2002 when my wife (Robin DW43) and I (Steve DH42) decided to road trip to Florida with our DD (Lauren, then DD5, now DD11). It was such a magical experience that we repeated it again in 2003 to see all the things we had missed. In 2004, we made the same trip, but we took in Universal, Sea World, and Discovery Cove. They were great in their own ways, but in 2005 and 2006, we again returned to WDW since we had fallen in love with it. In 2007, my DW obtained her Masters Degree so we couldn't go on vacation (too much time at school for her). So 2008 was to be a WDW trip worth remembering because we hadn't been there for two years and we had time to make up for!!!
On our last trip, we had our 1995 Ford Windstar minivan with its third row seat removed. The trip from Northern Illinois was never a problem when it came to holding our luggage and keeping us comfy. We now have a 2007 Mercury Mariner (sister small SUV to the Ford Escape and Mazda Tribute). I had the oil changed and I washed/waxed/vacuumed/Armor Alled the little truck for our trip. We bought a $199 XCargo roof luggage carrier from Sears and I test fitted it a few days before our trip. We needed the extra space because we bring a large, wheeled, RubberMaid cooler full of Coke Zero, Fanta Orange Zero, Minute Maid Light lemonade, Diet Mountain Dew Code Red and Diet Mountain Dew. We all love these beverages and the 24 oz resealable bottles go along way to saving money on drinks during our trip.
I was amazed at how well the roof luggage storage worked. It was virtually silent during the whole drive time. No wind noise due to its aerodynamic design. I'm glad we bought the one we did. It opens from the rear with its key lock. I had no problem reaching the soft side luggage we use (three bags) due to my 6'4" height and the fact that I even parked next to a curb each time to make it even easier. We had a ton of room in the back of our Mariner for everything else...we even had room to spare.
So with Mickey and Minnie on the back of our roof (I epoxied magnets into holes I drilled in these Happy Meal rubber toys to hold them on the roof), a Mickey antenna topper, and a Tinkerbell license plate frame to let everyone know where we were headed, we hit the road!
Our rules are simple. When anyone needs to stop, we stop. But it seemed that we were always ready at the same time to stretch our legs, fuel up the Mariner, grab a snack and use the washroom at the same time. We left our home at 4:15 in the morning. We stopped at a Best Western of I-75, just south of Atlanta at around 6:00 pm. We had dinner at a Fuddruckers and swam in the hotel's indoor pool. It was very relaxing and recharged our batteries.
I'll list some numbers here for those interested. Our total gasoline expenditures were $458.14 round trip (which includes driving to Vero Beach). Our cost for the one night hotel was $100, so that totals at $558.14...which is much, much less expensive than what today's cost for round trip airfare would have been for all three of us from O'Hare to Orlando. We would have to add in a rental car for travelling from WDW to Vero Beach and back to the airport too.
The next morning, we were on the road by 6:00 am. We always stop for photos and our free shot glass of orange juice at the Florida Welcome Center!
We never saw a drop of rain during our drive down to Florida. It was uneventful. It is amazing how easy the drive is when the speed limit is 70 mph. Our DD11, Lauren had a DVD player but didn't use it at all. She loves to read and I took her to a local used bookstore where she picked out a bunch of stuff she thought she'd like. I had to ask her to look up when we crossed into Kentucky (over the Ohio river on the huge bridge) and into Tennessee and into Georgia and back into Tennessee and then back into Georgia (that crazy I-24) and through the gorgeous Smokey Mountains.
The new 429 highway branches off the Florida Turnpike and pulls you right up at the "back" of WDW. Instead of taking 4, this new road doesn't let you see Orlando or any of the other attractions in the city. You just appear at Walt Disney World. I wonder what it cost for Disney to subsidize that tollway?
We had no wait on a Monday at around 1:30 pm to check into the Coronado Springs Resort. This was our first repeat stay at a resort and we loved teh Coronado Springs!!! Everything went smooth except for our Disney VISA card not being accepted (yikes!). I figured out that I had booked this vacation last year and had since received a new card, with a new expiration date, and they were still using the old card's expiration date to check us in. Once I noted that, everything was great. We had a list of our ADR's printed out by concierge and got our Hoop Dee Doo Revue tickets as well.
Our room was a waterview on the AAA discount for room only. It was ready and we unloaded our stuff. We were very happy that the room was on the first floor and had a quiet and amazingly beautiful view from out door/window. Here's the view:
Here's a couple more Coronado Springs Resort pics. We love the theming and the colors. The lake is stunning in the morning and at night!
We had bought 7 Day Park Hopper Tickets from www.floridaorlandotickets.net so we decided to go to Animal Kingdom since we had arrived so early on our second day of vacation. It was EMH at AK and we figured we'd stay late. We saw the parade, and went on the Kilamanjaro Safari.
We took the train to Rafiki's Planet Watch and met Jimminy Cricket and Pocahontas.
We had dinner at the Pizza Safari and then after 8pm, during EMH, we laughed ourselves silly at It's Tough To Be A Bug and scared ourselves silly on Dinosaur and Expedition Everest. The only thing we didn't get to do was see the new Finding Nemo show. While DW and DD11 went on the Primeval Whirl (not for me, the only ride I won't go on, those twists and turns kill me!), I had a Mickey Ice Cream bar. When I went to pay, the Cast Member said, "This is a magical moment for sir, you ice cream is free!" Yeah! That was our one and only magical moment. It was a nice little treat! We also saw Festival of the Lion King at night when it was rather cool out. Boy is that show fantastic!!!
Our second Park day was at MK for Early Entry EMH.
We rode Space Mountain and Buzz Lightyear's space ranger spin, saw the hilarious and very well done Monsters Inc Laugh Floor, the Carousel of Progress (an old time fav) all before breakfast at Cinderella's Royal Table. CRT was great as always.
We went on POTC after our late breakfast and then we had just a bit of rain. It was enough to make us not go on the Jungle Cruise (closed down) and by ponchos (which we barely used).
We headed back to our room and swam in the Dig Site pool. Then we dressed for dinner and bussed to MK so we could ferry to Fort Wilderness for the Hoop Dee Doo. It had been 6 years since the HDD.
Our DD11 laughed herself out of breath at this dinner show. Everyone needs to see the HDD at least once. It was great!
On our ferry ride back to MK, we got to see the Electric Light Water Parade. We'd never seen it before so it was an extra treat. I would recommend the 7:15 HDD so that you might get to see this nighttime water float on your way back to the MK docks.
(more coming)
