It's about time! A Spring Break TR (March 09)

[michellem1118]

I'm all caught up!

So sorry about the food poisoning, ick! Glad it didn't last too long.

You got some great animal pics! I love the tiger, gorilla, giraffe and elephant and especially, the owl!

Looking forward to the picture of your build-a-dino, I haven't seen one yet!!!!

It's amazing how much you packed in, sounds like a really good trip! 4 days, how cool. I am very jealous.

I the owl pic, too... The last day is coming up soon...

 

[michellem1118]

Friday, March 20, 2009 and Saturday, March 21, 2009

I have no notes for this day, which is a bit weird, but I basically remember what we did. After getting up, folding the laundry, and repacking the car, we headed over to DHS to use our RnRC re-entry pass from earlier in the week. I believe we used snack credits at Starring Roles for breakfast after riding, and then probably hopped on ToT with a short wait, I think, before our one and only ride of the week on this:

We headed out of DHS by 10:30, and headed over to DTD. We did our last bit of shopping, used our remaining snack credits at Goofy’s Candy Company, and our last QS credits at Earl of Sandwich to get lunch for the road. We were back on the road by 1:00, saying good-bye to our home away from home until late July.

We drove back to Daphne, AL, and stayed in the same hotel we’d stayed in on the trip down. We found a much better place to eat dinner this night, and thankfully had no bad food experiences. We were back home in Dallas by dinnertime on Saturday, March 21, officially ending our spring break vacation.

Up Next:
Final thoughts, and a few other photos that just didn't fit in with my narrative.

 

[michellem1118]

Driving vs. Flying: While the drive wasn't that bad, I don't think we'll do it again unless we're taking a 2-week trip. I really needed a day to recover from the driving before hitting the parks, and in a 4-5 day trip, (even with others scheduled for later in the year), I just never felt like we had the luxury of time to relax. In the end, we only saved about $150 by driving anyway, so to me, it wasn't worth the trade-off of time.

Disney Dining Plans: This was our third trip using DDP. Our first trip together, we used the original DDP, back when it still included an appetizer, dessert, and gratuities. We did not make any ADRs on that trip, and still managed to have dinner at Le Cellier (!!!). On our honeymoon, we did the DxDDP, because we wanted to try a few of the signature restaurants. On this trip, we tried the QSDDP (although we did make ADRs at some places we wanted to try, in case we decided we wanted an OOP TS meal). So, some thoughts...

This trip was the first time we really carefully tracked what the meals would have cost us OOP vs. what we paid for the DDP. Our conclusion: if we use every single entitlement, then we save money... but if we hadn't hit DTD on our last day and used our 8 (!!!) remaining snack credits, the DDP would have cost us more than the meals OOP.

We also found that we like the flexibility of not having ADRs every day - our honeymoon was a lot of "hurry up and wait" because we had 2 ADRs a day, and it felt like we never had time to accomplish anything else.

Our upcoming trip, we're not doing a DDP at all, to try to decide whether it's really worth it for us to add it on in the future... more thoughts on this in the next trip report!

Crowds: We were pleasantly surprised to find the crowds much lighter than expected, especially with it being Spring Break week. I will say, though, that I'd be hesitant to go during that week again, just because of the LARGE numbers of unchaperoned teenagers on school trips. We saw (and heard) some very un-Disney-like things from the kids when no adults were around...

A few more pictures, with camera thoughts: This was the first trip where I took the dSLR with me, and I must say, it got HEAVY throughout the days. I also found that, with the nicer camera out, I wanted to spend time taking pictures rather than focusing on having fun. I'm not taking the dSLR next week, just the point and shoot, so I won't have the added "stress" of constantly trying to take "good" photos. LOL

The model train in Germany:

The Italy Pavilion:

Scenery in the Japan Pavilion:

AstroOrbiter:

And perhaps my favorite photo of the week...

 

[dd50]

I agree with you about driving vs flying. Saving $150 but loosing time and sitting in a car does tire you out.

We are doing the DDP this trip for the first time but I really don't think it will save me money as I usually don't eat that much but will try it and see how it goes. The QSDDP also seems like a lot to me because we usually only get a snack in the afternoon (sometimes I don't, but my kids always do) and I never get a dessert after dinner because I am usually full.

Glad you had a good time on your trip and thank you for sharing it with us.