Midnight in the Garden of Good........and a little Evil.

[SCPP]

I never really thought I would write a trip report. But a few weeks after returning from the world, I am suffering from a little withdrawal. I read on DIS that many people had shared a TR in order to bring closure to the trip and prepare for school which starts for us in 4 short weeks.

I find myself really lamenting the end of the trip which is something that has never happened before after our family trips. We were nostalgic for Ireland after our trip last summer but I guess Disney adds to the home sickness for WDW even a little more.

Less than a month after returning from WDW and to show our yearning for Disney, my DD and I have started a little routine where we scream Disney Road Trip and bump hands. We are ready to plan the next trip despite the fact the laundry is not finished from the past trip…..Anyway.

Yes I am from the South. Yes I love “the book” but we live in SC and not Savannah. I thought the book title was appropriate for the report. Out of 8 days at Disney we were somewhere out and about in the World after Midnight on 6 nights. We never made it to the room before 11PM a single night. Not bad for a family with DS 12, DS8 and DD6.

The idea for the trip came about one evening around Christmas when WDW ran the commercial with Cindy and the carriage telling me how affordable the trip would be. (yeah right…..let me know how that works out) DD looked up and simply said please. I knew then that WDW was on for Summer 08.

After trips to Ireland, England, Hawaii, New York and Boston the past 4 years, I knew it was coming eventually and now it was here. The kids are the perfect age and the decision to go was made right after the Christmas tree came down.

The big advantage we had on the cost is that I travel for living…..let me rephrase that….I travel a lot. Last year I did 151 nights at Sheratons across the Southeast. The SPG program is very generous for elite Platinum members when it comes to points and free nights.

A call to SPG resulted in availability for the Swan and Dolphin for June 6th to 13th. Looking through the threads on DIS, we decided on the Swan. Queen beds trump double beds and the smaller less crowded hotel of the Swan seemed a little more laid back. We booked 2 rooms using points for 8 nights at the Swan. The lady at the SPG Platinum placed a nice note on the reservation asking for an upgrade and I had a pretty good feeling that we would receive one.

I did check on the Westin website and placed our dates and rooms into the system. The rooms were $5082.00 for the dates of our stay. Thanks to Sheraton we had $5000 worth of rooms for free.

Now on to the players in my little saga.

There is me….past the Big 4 -0 but still act and look much younger. Actually got carded for a drink at TGIFs the other day which was a joke but pretty good for the ego. I design, program, install and train for a software company. I have ownership options in the company which just means they have an excuse to make me work longer without actually having to pay me. As mentioned I travel though out the southeast mainly for business. I am sitting at A Sheraton in Charlotte as I type this. In the past I also wrote for newspapers across South Carolina. At one time I had a syndicated column in a number of newspapers around the state. I had a very good editor so please excuse my lack of professionalism here.

Me and the wife
18th Green Royal and Ancient Golf Club
St Andrews, Scotland

Me
Stamford Bridge
Chelsea FC
London England


DW is also on the good side of 4-0. She is a biology and chemistry teacher and a darn fine one. She has been the teacher of the year 3 times at 3 different schools. Everyone loves her. Her students, her fellow teachers and her principal think the world of her. She is the one teacher that makes a difference, that teaches because that is what she wants to do. Students and parents request her every year. The principal told me that over 50 students requested her past year.

DD is 6……going on 18. She is a Carolina Beach girl and as you can see a cutie beyond belief. She believes shoes are not a necessity from May to September. Her life these days includes all things Disney from Princesses to HSM to Hannah….anything on channel 299 on Direct TV. Beach, beach and more beach if it is not Disney.

DD on the way to Dance Class

DD ready for a Football Friday Night Lights in the South


DS is 12. I say he is the dumbest smart kid in the world. Actually he is beyond brilliant but does the stupidest things sometimes. Already doing basic computer programming in the 6th grade.


DS is 8. Sweetest kid in the world. Nothing is more important to him than my approval. He would do anything in the world and work so hard for my approval. Loves baseball, Star Wars, and Music.

A few years old (Fall 2004) but the best picture of the 3 little ones.

So we are set at the Swan, only 5 months away.

I hope you will enjoy what I promise will be a very interesting TR. One event is guaranteed to make you cry or your money back.

 

[averill94]

Looking forward to it!

 

[SCPP]

Back in January, I was sound asleep on a Saturday morning when a friend of my wife’s called waking me up. She said that she heard we were doing the Disney thing and offered all her advice. Her family had 10 years of DVC, annual passes and over 30 visits.

She offered advice for the next 2 hours.

I hung up knowing there was a lot of work to do. The best advice she offered was to visit DIS which was amazing with all the advice and friendly people.

That night with enough print outs to kill a small (old growth) forest, we sat down with the kids to choose our restaurants and start the planning. Each kid was allowed to choose one dinner. DS 12 went for Le Cellular, DS 8 wanted the Coral Sea and DD6 wanted the Princess Breakfast. We were well past the 180 day mark so many of our first choice and first choice times were gone.

We are late night people thus the title of this little TR. Dinner time at our house on the weekends usually starts well past 9 and even during the school year is usually no earlier than 7 to 8. Kids are allowed to stay up late and thus wake up later which is wonderful on weekend mornings. Our kids sleep often to 10 AM on many Saturdays.

The result was a call back to Dining and all our ADRs we wanted.

Our ADRs were
Tony’s at 8:50
Sci Fi at 740
Norway Princess Breakfast 8:40 AM
Le Cell at 1:40
California Grill at 9:40
Boma at 8:20
Coral Reef at 8:45
San Angel Inn 8:30

We are very excited with our ADRs. Each kid was allowed to pick a place and we filled in the gaps based on the days and the parks.

We had rooms, ADRs. Thanks to Uncle George and his special rebate check, we had $2100 for tickets and all was ready to go.

 

[SCPP]

June 4th (T minus 2 days)
I had left on a Business trip on May 27th expecting to make it home on June 2nd prior to our departure. Unfortunately the clients had a different plan. That was one fun telephone call telling the DW that I would be home on the 4th just in time to leave.

On June 4th at 5AM, I awoke in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina after finishing with a client at midnight. I cruised across the state and made it to the upstate around 10AM. DW just looked at me. She had packed the car and the kids for what would be 16 days away from home, all without my assistance. You are going to owe big time was all she said.

I was home all of 90 minutes before we loaded up both cars to head south.
The trip was scheduled as follows:

June 4th drive to South East Georgia and drop off the puppies and stay with the in laws
June 5th drive to Orlando to see brother in law and spend the night in Orlando
June 6th through June 13th Magic Time
June 14th back to SE Georgia where the family will visit the grandparents while I have the privilege of driving 600 more miles to visit a client in the Outer Banks of North Carolina.
June 20th all back under one roof.

So we head South on Interstate 85 and make it all the way to Atlanta without stopping. DS12 was in my car watching Indy Jones while the other Rug Rats were in DW car watching Cars.

We make the Steak and Shake by 2 PM on the south side of Atlanta. Amazingly the place is fairly crowded…..with folks wearing Disney stuff. Is this a sign? I ask the family next to us….yep on the way to Port Orleans. The next family headed to Pop, the third 2 weeks…… off site at their time share. Yeah it is gonna be a little crowded at the Mouse this week.

75 on the south side of Atlanta through Macon was moving along and we make SE Georgia by dinner. The In Laws have the beds ready, the kennel ready for the dogs and Ribeyes are on the grill. They have an 1800s era home that has been restored to a Southern Homes and Gardens showpiece.

During dinner the cell phone rings and it is the manager of The Disney Swan. She offered a suite upgrade due my platinum status and asked what are requirements were for the accommodations. I told her we needed rooms that would accommodate 5 people. She said there was a suite available that had a king bed in one room, 2 queens in a second room and also had a sofa, kitchenette and large dining table. Cool Beans. We were excited beyond believe with our first bit of Disney Magic.

Then she amazed me and said this is only one room so I will redeposit the points for the second room back into your account. Less than an hour later 66,000 points were back in my Sheraton Starwood account. Kind of makes all of those nights away from home a little easier to take.

After a nice dinner and time with the Laws we hit the hay ready to hit down to Orlando and T minus 2 days to the kingdom and the rug rats were ready to roll. Needless to say getting them down was a challenge.

 

[SCPP]

June 5th ( T Minus 1 )
We left South Georgia around 11 after breakfast headed to Orlando. We had plans to have dinner with my Brother in Law and his wife and spend time with them prior to the big day on Saturday.

Both my Brother in Law and his wife had both worked at Disney for years. BroinLaw actually worked for Kodak in Orlando for over 5 years and was in charge of all things Kodak at Disney. Basically he kept all the rides that used Kodak systems and software going. Obviously he was a wealth of information having spent the overwhelming majority of 5 years on site.

He is still with Kodak but travels the country now in charge of more locations than just Disney. His wife also worked at Disney for years before their kids were born and knew even more than he did about the parks. He had spent most of the time working in the parks after hours or behind the scenes, she was a supervisor in the park working with the photo pass people.

We hit Orlando by mid afternoon and spent the day with them. After dinner I pulled out my notebook detailing the next 7 days. They took what I had spent 5 months putting together and made it look like your college midterm paper. Still the advice was great considering they had spent 50 weeks a year at the Kingdom working over the past 5 years. Amazing stories and understanding of the parks after a combined almost 11 years of working at WDW.

Rather than waste a load of points on the Swan this evening, I made a reservation up on International. I am also Diamond on Hilton and the Homewood suites had a 50% off points deal going.

The Homewood Suites is nothing special and not very highly recommended. Kinds of vanilla like every other Homewood in the USA. It was a good place to crash for 10 hours prior to our first day at Disney.

The kids did find International Drive to be a blast after dark. Sort of reminded them of Ocean Blvd. in Myrtle Beach. Reminded me of urban sprawl gone horribly wrong.

 

[TatenEly]

Great Start!! Your family sounds a lot like ours....late nighters!

I am looking forward to hearing more! Thanks for sharing.

Stephanie

 

[mplsmom1]

Waiting for the arrival! Hope it's magical...good trip report thus far!

 

[The Moonk's Mom]

Great start...yes, your title caught my eye...on of my favorite books from one of my favorite cities...but I do love SC too! Actually we are headed to Charleston on Sunday.

Can't wait for more!

 

[Donald is #1]

Awesome start!

 

[tink1957]

Enjoying your report so far, can't wait to read about your adventures in WDW.

 

[Backstage_Gal]

I agree with the other posters. Great start, and looking forward to hearing your story

 

[Zeebs]

Good start, am in as well.

I guess the problem with ALOT of travel is that motel rooms all start to look the same, to me the thought of staying in a motel is exciting.

Kirsten

 

[SCPP]

June 6th (the day)

Finally we hit the Kingdom. !!!!!

I set the alarm for 7AM and knew the family would moan and groan with the wakeup call....... They did not disappoint. We made it up and after breakfast left Orlando International Drive at exactly 8AM.

In my mind I started doing the time count down dance, 60 minutes before rope drop, drive to WDW, tram to the TTC, Monrail to MK, Bag Check, Line to check tickets, scan fingerprints, rope drop in 58 minutes, now 57 minutes, now 56 minutes……yep we can make it.

Sure enough we make it….through the tram, TTC, Monorail and literally as we were scanning the last ticket, the countdown started. Could not have planned it any better and trust me I tried.

Walking down Main Street was an amazing experience with my DD for the first time. Her eyes were so wide and her mouth matched as she saw the Castle for the first time. This is all I have been waiting for was all she could. DS8 remarked that this place rocks and DS12 was all cool trying to walk ahead of the family as not to be associated with us. The joys ahead of teen age son awaits.

Through a little competition the family had over the past few weeks, DS8 had the honor of choosing the first attraction. And of course he chose Space Mountain and we took a right turn and went straight to Tomorrow Land. But there were no people.

We got our first FP for SpMo on the way and by 9:05 we were at the entrance of SpMo and there were still almost no people in sight. We entered the line and walked all the way to where the line and the FP merge without stopping. The line was only one row around inside and in less than 3 minutes we were shooting thru the air on SpMo. Immediately we ran around and did it again and then again for a 3rd time. By 9:40 we had 3 rides on SpMo. My wife had taken DD, who was not into SpMo yet, o ride Buzz and the people mover. We met up at Buzz and rode that twice again with no wait at all.

Bro in Law and his family met up with us as we got off Buzz the 2nd time. We kind of stood around trying to figure out what to do. The consensus or either the prevailing wisdom was Stitch. This was by far the worst attraction at Disney. The ride is just plain stupid, scary for the kids and a waste of time.

Again we stood around for a few minutes trying to decide what to do. With my family of DS12, DS8 and DD6 and with Bro In Law with his DD5 and DS1, this just was not going to work. There was just too much of an age difference. We agreed to split up so the young ones could enjoy Pooh, Dumbo and Cindy while I took the boys to do the big kid stuff.

DD and the Cousin

We headed straight to Thunder and picked up a FP and then hit the stand by line. The sign said only 20 minutes but the wait actually hit almost 35 minutes. Still it was not too bad and we enjoyed the folks around us. I guess I should mention that it was Gay Day at the MK and we had spoken to the kids about what we might see. There was a lesbian couple behind us in line and DS noticed it right away. He started talking with them and as we got on the ride he commented, they are just like us, really nice. Glad to see he has learned open mindedness and tolerance of people different from him at an early age.

We rode Thunder and then headed to Splash. The line was around 30 minutes once again. Contrary to the line for Thunder, we were now next to a family where the Dad was wearing a Fellowship of Christian Athletes T Shirt…..everyone else was wearing red. We talked with them as we went through the line. The boys loved Splash. The worst part was going up the first hill; we were soaked by the log going down the hill around the corner. Still everyone liked Splash and we got our 3rd set of FPs after we got off. We now held afternoon FP for the Big 3 and it still was not noon. We had done SpMo 3 times, Splash and Thunder and had FP for re dos later.

We meet DW and DD for lunch at the Columbia Harbor House. Not much to say about Fried Fish and Chicken. DD and DS did however surprise us by asking for the fruit instead of fries, I guess they are learning.

After lunch we used our FP for Thunder and Splash and then took a break and watched the Presidents. Afterwards it was close to 2:30PM and it was getting hot and crowded.

I had made the decision with room upgrade already secured and not wanting to waste time, to check in during afternoon break instead of wasting time in the morning. We made it to the Swan and parked the car while the bell hop grabbed a ridiculous amount of luggage. The Platinum line was open and we were checked in quickly and efficiently. The bell hop met us and we were off to our room in less than 5 minutes.

The Three Kidos after rding the front car

Next: Check in, pool time and back to the kingdom for Tonys on the Square and SpectroMagic.

 

[SCPP]

Good start, am in as well.

I guess the problem with ALOT of travel is that motel rooms all start to look the same, to me the thought of staying in a motel is exciting.

Kirsten

Rooms, restaurants, and client sites all look the same after a while.
Heck I once told someone Paris France and Paris Texas.....all the same after a while. It is all work and it really does not matter where I am.....it is work and after about 6 or 7 visits to the place, it is all old.

 

[SCPP]

Great start...yes, your title caught my eye...on of my favorite books from one of my favorite cities...but I do love SC too! Actually we are headed to Charleston on Sunday.

Can't wait for more!

Wish I had read over the weekend....wnet to Atlanta to watch the Braves lose.....again.

Anyway, it you are still there, try the following restaurants.
Mustard Seed
Waters Edge - right on Shem Creek, water side dining
Mimi Diner - James Island
Slightly North of Broad - Downtown
Carolines - Downtown

Can't go wrong at any of them.

 

[LLWDW]

Am enjoying your TR. You have a beautiful family.
I have also been to Hawaii and Ireland, but don't travel very much so it's interesting to read your perspective. Your comment on your DD on Main Street brings back precious memories and I'm glad that others can feel that same magic.

 

[The Moonk's Mom]

Wish I had read over the weekend....wnet to Atlanta to watch the Braves lose.....again.

Anyway, it you are still there, try the following restaurants.
Mustard Seed
Waters Edge - right on Shem Creek, water side dining
Mimi Diner - James Island
Slightly North of Broad - Downtown
Carolines - Downtown

Can't go wrong at any of them.

We had to put the trip off a few weeks anyway...work stuf for DH...so thanks for the recomendations...may have to give them a try!

Great update...love the excitment that comes with getting that first view of the castle!

 

[SCPP]

The Swan was absolutely wonderful. The room was spectacular. The best thing was the size; almost 1300 square feet with 3 bathrooms and 3 frigs. The bad thing was the location on the 2nd floor. We were the only room on the hall with the rest of the rooms being meeting rooms. Still we loved the room and were excited for the upgrade. The room listed at $1299 on the website. I find it hard to believe anyone would pay that amount but as they say…..

We changed into swimsuits and hit the pools. As noted the swimming complex at the Swan and Dolphin is amazing. We enjoyed 3 hours in the cool water and a few drinks by the pool.

After the pool we changed back and drove over to the MK. We had an 8:40 ADR for Tony on the Square. Arriving at the MK around 7, we had just enough time to use the FP for SpaceMo (4th time) and then ride Buzz. It was time for the ADR at Tony’s and we made it back over to the square where people were lined up for Spectro.

When checking in, I turned on all the charm and asked, begged, pleaded for a table on the porch to watch the parade. The hostess was from Hong Kong where I had spent a great deal of time working and we chatted about Hong Kong and Kowllon where she was from. She told me they no longer sit people on the porch after 8:30 due to the problems with the parade.

She did have a table by the front window which was wonderful. Contrary to the majority opinion, we enjoyed Tony’s. I was not expecting much but was pleasantly surprised. Our waitress was wonderful and I found the food slightly above average. It will not beat what we find at our Mom and Pop Italian place but was better than the Olive Garden or Macaroni Grill. Spectro went by during dinner and we enjoyed the lights but there was no piped in sound.

After dinner we still had 2 hours plus before the park closed. My Bro in Law hooked back up with us and we headed to Fantasy Land.

DD wanted to ride with just her Daddy and we headed to the Tea Cups. Half hour later everyone joined us and we did Dumbo during Wishes, Peter Pan, Small World and then Haunted Mansion. HM is not a good idea with 5 kids 12 and under. It was just a little too spooky for them and all 5 complained. We should not have done the attraction and I would caution anyone with young kids to think this one over before riding. The improvements are nice but the crumb crunchers gave it big thumbs down.

As midnight rolled around we were on Thunder Mountain for a last ride of the day. 15 hours had passed since we had counted down the rope drop and 17 hours had passed since we had woken up. 1 day down and 6 more to go. Not sure we can maintain the pace.

Still we had hit SpMo 4times, Splash 2 times, Thunder 3 times, Buzz 3 times along with Dumbo, Peter, haunted, Small World, Tea Cup, Presidents and Pooh. Not a bad first day.

Our first time in the Garden after Midnight was over.

 

[mplsmom1]

Wow that's a long first day! Good for you - I love Buzz, my fav ride! Looking forward to more installments

 

[whogirl'smom]

I love this! I can't believe you guys got 3 bathrooms. Way to go! And I thought we were good at earning Disney reward points!