"Mom, this is like a whole new Disney!" New 7/30 - pg 43 - Final Thoughts & PTR Link

[Charleston Princess]

Hurray for Alex getting his basketball time and a great time at the pool! Dinner sounds delicious!

Now let's head to Orlando!

 

[DisMomAmy]

Thanks Ladies!

A good friend of mine that I planned her park touring days for is back from vacation and is coming over tomorrow. I can't wait to find out all the details...
Julie-- I might have some info on the Japan & China CS places from her, I'll let you know.

I hope your friend had a fun time! I'm sure she probably did if she followed your plans.

Hi Amy!! I just got caught up on your TR. We got back on Friday so I have been trying to get caught up on all my subscriptions, back to work, downloading pics, photo pass, etc.

So sorry we could not get together on the 1st at AK Hopefully we can get together some time maybe at a Disney store.

Love your TR so far. Yay for landing early. We did too on 4/30 also about 20 min. Looks like you got some great family time in & lots of swimming

I am going to start my first TR this weekend!! I hope you follow along! Seven trips later & I am finally going to do a TR

Looking forward to your next update!

Welcome Home!! I'm so glad to hear you are doing a TR! Make sure you send me the link!

I'm sorry we didn't meet up on the 1st too!

Hurray for Alex getting his basketball time and a great time at the pool! Dinner sounds delicious!

Now let's head to Orlando!

That's exactly how I felt at that point!

 

[DisMomAmy]

Day Four (Sunday, April 25th): Karen had to work at 7am. We got up shortly after she left. My back was sore, but no sharp pains. I popped a couple Advil to be safe. We packed up and headed right out around 8:30. We had a 3+ hour drive ahead of us across the state to Vero Beach where we would pickup DMIL after visiting with Tim’s grandmother (GG) and Tim’s aunt & uncle (snowbirds who live near GG in the winter). I took quite a few photos as we drove across the state. We pretty much saw oranges, cows, more oranges, more cows, a truck lose it’s wheel, a couple sod farms, a few vultures & a couple random towns.

We saw a bunch of tractor trailer trucks hauling oranges too - it was funny because they were just in the back of the truck, not in crates, not in boxes, just in the back of the trailer. I wonder if they were for juice?? Or maybe they transport all oranges like that??

For part of the way we followed a pick up truck pulling a little trailer. At one point, I hear Tim say, "whooooo" and slow down a bit. I looked up to see the tire of the trailer rolling down the road toward us. The tire rolled down the road, then through a barb-wire fence into a field. I'm sure that wasn't too fun retrieving the tire!

Here's the truck:

The drive went really well. I thought it would be the most stressful part of our trip, but the kids kept themselves occupied really well and Tim & I were able to relax & enjoy the ride. We arrived at GG’s assisted living community around 11:45. Tim’s aunt & uncle were there already. We visited in her apartment for about an hour or so then headed out for lunch. We ate at an Applebee’s nearby. I didn’t take any pictures, but I’ll check with DMIL to see if she has any… I wasn’t sure what the expectation was going to be after lunch. I was happy to visit GG, but the boys had already had enough of her apartment and sitting still in the restaurant. I was happy to discover that as we left the restaurant everyone started giving good-bye hugs & loading GG into Tim’s aunt & uncle’s car. We were headed to Orlando right from the restaurant!! We pulled out of Applebee’s right around 2:30. We had another nice drive, although the boys were getting a bit more antsy as we approached Orlando. Alex kept reading the estimated arrival time on the GPS and announcing how many minutes it would be until we arrived. He would get excited if we would gain time & annoyed if we hit a stop light and lost time.

continued...

 

[MRYPPNS]

He would get excited if we would gain time & annoyed if we hit a stop light and lost time

I'm the same way!

 

[DisMomAmy]

Around 4:15 we pulled into the Sheraton Vistana Resort! Tim dropped me off and found a place to park. I think he and DMIL took turns using the bathroom with the kids because I saw them go through the lobby shortly after I entered the building. Check-in time officially starts at 4pm so the lobby was mobbed! The first thing I noticed when I walked into the lobby were the Disney touches! There was a desk right there to purchase park tickets. Luckily I had filled out the Diamond Lane check-in form ahead of time and was shown the Diamond Lane red carpet. I was the first one in line! There were two “CM’s” dedicated to the Diamond Lane. One seemed to be taking people from the regular line too. She took the next person in line and the other Diamond Lane “CM” took me just a minute or so later. I skipped a line of about 25 families!! I had submitted several requests and the “CM” started to tell me that they couldn’t accommodate all of our requests, but in the end we did end up with a first floor, renovated room, near the pool and away from the highway. I think the only things not accommodated were the request for a lock-off unit, which I didn’t really think we could get, and we got the our second choice of area within the resort. We had requested Fountains first, but ended up in the Lakes section. However, the building we got was right next to the Fountains buildings and it was equally close for us to go to the Lakes pool or Fountains pool. We actually spent more time at the Fountains pool & got food from the Fountains food court a few times. Another Disney touch was this little sleeve our room keys came in…

We left the check-in building/lobby area and followed the map through the huge resort to the Lakes section, building 10, room 1972. We were able to park right outside our room which was great for unloading all of our stuff!

I made everyone wait outside while I took pictures for you. (sorry some are fuzzy)

This is our door & our kitchen window.

Sorry it's dark, but this is the livingroom area (standing in the dining area):

Ktichen (notice my trip planning binder on the counter):

Dining room:

Second bedroom:

Main bathroom (with doors from the second bedroom & the kitchen/dining area:

There was a door separating the vanity area above & this part:

Master bedroom (which was huge, you can only see half of it here):

This is the other half of the master bedroom after I took a couple steps in the door:

I guess I didn't take a picture of the master bath, but you can see the doorway in the picture above... You can also see a separate vanity area in the corner of the bedroom. There was a vanity/sink in the bathroom and a second one just outside the bathroom. Tim & I don't even have separate sinks at home!

I have more pictures of the pools, etc. to post later on!

After we dragged all the stuff in, Tim took Alex to play a little basketball. Unfortunately the equipment rental area in the Fountains area closed at 5pm so they went over to the Cascades area, which was open until 11pm I think, and got a couple balls for a game of knock out. That's when Alex spotted the mini-golf... more on that later...

DMIL took Zach over to the Lakes pool (which was zero entry) and he swam for a short time. The sky was very dark so they didn't stay too long... As it turns out we were under a tornado watch!

After everyone left I turned on the tv to find that we got the Stacy channel!! (Before finding Stacy, I saw the weather and realized that we were under the tornado watch.) While unpacking I discovered that the safe had been left locked by the last guests & there was one lightbulb out above the vanity in the master bedroom. I called guest services and they sent people over right away (security had to come to re-program the safe). I unpacked as much as I could then turned my focus to dinner. We had brought some groceries from Jeff's so I made Alex a plate with rotisserie chicken & baby carrots. In a little while everyone got back to the room & after a shower, Tim ran out to the grocery store to pick up a few more things. Alex stayed with DMIL and ate, while I took Zach over to the Fountains food court to get a pizza. They had Pizza Hut express, A&W & KFC.

Shortly after we got back to the room the skies opened up and we had a big thunderstorm. I hoped Tim was staying dry!

Alex was going to sleep in with DMIL on the first night so I got Zach settled to bed on one of the air mattresses in the master then got to work on getting Alex to bed. It was REALLY nice having the two bedrooms to get the boys to bed. Tim got home shortly after and had picked up Subway for the adults. We ate & watched a little tv then got to bed not too long after that! After eating, I noticed that the message light was on so I checked the messages & found out the tornado watch was over. I'm guessing that the resort sent out a message when the watch began, but since we weren't checked in yet, we didn't get the message. I thought it was nice of them to do that. On a side note - I had heard that we would be pressured to attend an "owners breakfast" aka sales pitch to buy at their resort. I was asked once at check-in and told them no thanks. We did get one, maybe two messages (not calls) reminding us of the breakfast if we wanted to attend - but I would say it was very low pressure.


Daily recap: After a long, but interesting drive, we made it to Vero Beach to visit with GG and Tim's aunt & uncle and to pick up DMIL. We finally made it to Sheraton Vistana Resort!!

Up next: GADs, GACs & APs at DHS!

 

[DisMomAmy]

I'm the same way!

The GPS can be handy, but it can be annoying too!

 

[Lovemy3babes]

Yay you made it to Orlando safe and sounds! It looks like you had some nice family time leading up to that as well. Can't wait for more!

 

[disneyfan61]

Very nice place where you stayed Amy!! So much room!! Love that tub off the master bath.

Glad the tornado watch did not last that long.

 

[mousescrapper]

Ok I am paying attention now and am reading in the past not the now....

sounds good...more curious now on the China CS, have scratched Yakitori in Japan...also not sure the resort hop will work for lunch no real CS at either place bummer.

We pretty much saw oranges, cows, more oranges, more cows, a truck lose it’s wheel, a couple sod farms, a few vultures & a couple random towns.


Ah road trips....


Alex kept reading the estimated arrival time on the GPS and announcing how many minutes it would be until we arrived. He would get excited if we would gain time & annoyed if we hit a stop light and lost time.

I'm the same way!

me too I always want to out smart that thing...

Around 4:15 we pulled into the Sheraton Vistana Resort!

getting closer to Mickey!

I had submitted several requests and the “CM” started to tell me that they couldn’t accommodate all of our requests, but in the end we did end up with a first floor, renovated room, near the pool and away from the highway. I think the only things not accommodated were the request for a lock-off unit, which I didn’t really think we could get, and we got the our second choice of area within the resort. We had requested Fountains first, but ended up in the Lakes section. However, the building we got was right next to the Fountains buildings and it was equally close for us to go to the Lakes pool or Fountains pool. We actually spent more time at the Fountains pool & got food from the Fountains food court a few times.

sounds like it worked out well!


I made everyone wait outside while I took pictures for you. (sorry some are fuzzy)


good job!




It looks real nice, big but cozy too...did you bring some disney pictures to hang on the wall?



Up next: GADs, GACs & APs at DHS!

need some more abbreviations there


looking forward to Disney Day 1)

J~

 

[DisneyCrafter]

Yes, finally Disney!

 

[Charleston Princess]

Oranges and cows! Definitely sounds like a drive through Florida!

Wow! Your villa is so nice!!! I can see why you are spoiled to the extra room even if it means staying off-property! The ability to spread out like that on a vacation would be so heavenly!

Yikes to the tornado watch, but thank goodness it was nothing to worry about!

 

[KathyRN137]

Wow! Gorgeous rooms!

Did you get to use that whirlpool tub? My own back is bothering me today so I was wondering if yours was feeling any better by then.

Laughing at the "100 pix" trying to capture the elusive basket....


Kathy

 

[Peter Pan Fan 22]

Alex says, "Mom, are we dead?"

That is too cute!

I know what you mean about the oranges being put in the truck just like they are, with no crates or anything. I once was following an orange truck and the oranges just started dumping out on the road. I was having to swerve to miss oranges like you guys did to dodge that tire!

Sheraton Vistana looks great! I can't wait to see your pool pictures!

 

[jenniferkeala808]

hey amy!! great updates!! great pics of your villa! can't wait for the next installment!

 

[Angies1274]

Hi Amy! Great updates!! I'm so glad Alex got a little basketball time in!! It looks like they had so much fun in the pool!!

Funny about the oranges and cows! hmmm....strange that the oranges were not in crates or boxes.

Your villa looks great! Glad you were able to get most of your requests!

 

[DisMomAmy]

Yay you made it to Orlando safe and sounds! It looks like you had some nice family time leading up to that as well. Can't wait for more!

It felt really good to get to Orlando!!

Very nice place where you stayed Amy!! So much room!! Love that tub off the master bath.

Glad the tornado watch did not last that long.

We never used the hot tub in the room - they kind of gross me out... you never know what has gone on in there...

Ok I am paying attention now and am reading in the past not the now....

sounds good...more curious now on the China CS, have scratched Yakitori in Japan...also not sure the resort hop will work for lunch no real CS at either place bummer.

me too I always want to out smart that thing...

need some more abbreviations there

looking forward to Disney Day 1)

J~

I thought you'd appreciate my abbreviations!

Yes, finally Disney!

Oranges and cows! Definitely sounds like a drive through Florida!

Wow! Your villa is so nice!!! I can see why you are spoiled to the extra room even if it means staying off-property! The ability to spread out like that on a vacation would be so heavenly!

Yikes to the tornado watch, but thank goodness it was nothing to worry about!

I was thinking of you when I found out about the watch! I know how much you love tornados!

We've really become accustom to the extra space. I think we may have found our resort of choice - Sheraton Vistana Resort was so close to the parks too!!

Wow! Gorgeous rooms!

Did you get to use that whirlpool tub? My own back is bothering me today so I was wondering if yours was feeling any better by then.

Laughing at the "100 pix" trying to capture the elusive basket....


Kathy

We didn't use the whirlpool tub because of the ick factor but we did visit the hot tubs by the pool a couple nights.

That is too cute!

I know what you mean about the oranges being put in the truck just like they are, with no crates or anything. I once was following an orange truck and the oranges just started dumping out on the road. I was having to swerve to miss oranges like you guys did to dodge that tire!

Sheraton Vistana looks great! I can't wait to see your pool pictures!

The oranges were the oddest thing... I just had to imagine they were for juice. I'm laughing picturing you behind a truck of oranges losing it's load!

hey amy!! great updates!! great pics of your villa! can't wait for the next installment!

Coming up soon!

Hi Amy! Great updates!! I'm so glad Alex got a little basketball time in!! It looks like they had so much fun in the pool!!

Funny about the oranges and cows! hmmm....strange that the oranges were not in crates or boxes.

Your villa looks great! Glad you were able to get most of your requests!

We took advantage of the resort much more this year than in the past. And I was really happy with the villa we were given. I was afraid that they would look at my long list of requests, laugh at me, and give me exactly what we didn't want!

 

[DisMomAmy]

Day Five (Monday, April 26th)

After a somewhat sleepless night (due to thunderstorms all night) we all rose ready to hit our first park!! Unfortunately my back was bothering me again today so I popped some more Advil and decided to go with my good cross-trainer sneakers to start the day. We had some bagels in the condo then left around 8:15 (we had planned for 8am). We finally got to see this:

We arrived at DHS at 8:30 and headed straight to Will Call to turn in our GAD vouchers!! The process took about 15 minutes and the CM (who was working with one arm as the other was in a cast) issued our one day park tickets, then upgraded them to 5 day park hoppers and one AP for me (and refunded our $14 parking fee)! The CM let us keep our one day GAD tickets as souvenirs & gave us all VoluntEAR buttons:

Then DMIL (or Nancy as I’ll refer to her going forward) had to go through the same process and Alex was getting very antsy. Since we wanted to hit TSM first thing, I decided to take the boys to the other side of the park entrance to get their GACs and get my Tables in Wonderland card. We decided to get a GAC for Zach right up front just in case we needed it, rather than having to go back and get one later. As we turned to leave Guest Relations, Tim & Nancy were just arriving to meet up with us so we headed through the turnstiles. We took a brief stop at the restrooms just inside the turnstiles and Zach spotted a bunch of Club Penguin merchandise in the store on the corner. They had GIANT red puffles – his favorite color! We told him we could go back later but that we didn’t want to lug stuff around the park all day (and I’m sure he wouldn’t want us to leave his new stuff at the package pickup area). It was just after 9am so we missed the mad dash to TSM. After our brief potty stop(stop #1 of the morning) we headed toward the big hat:

Then we continued on our way to TSM... as you can see it was only 9:02 but there was no chaos:

We got in the stand-by line so we could see this guy (sorry some of these are fuzzy & out of order):

We missed the stampede but didn’t have to wait long at all in the stand-by line. We hit it just right! I rode with Zach, Nancy rode with Alex and Tim rode alone (he was happy because he didn’t have to let someone beat him).

Zach won :

After TSM we headed to...

 

[mousescrapper]

After TSM we headed to...

the restroom...


YAY! you're at Disney

sounds like it was a breeze leaving your condo at 8:15 am and making it to TSM w/ the ticket exchange GAC and a potty break by 9:02 am...

brillant!

Always a fun way to start your day...

J~

 

[DisMomAmy]

the restroom...


YAY! you're at Disney

sounds like it was a breeze leaving your condo at 8:15 am and making it to TSM w/ the ticket exchange GAC and a potty break by 9:02 am...

brillant!

Always a fun way to start your day...

J~

That is funny!! That wasn't what I was thinking... but yes, we did make another potty stop next!

The condo was really close to everything!

 

[disneyfan61]

Great pic of the Disney sign on your drive in. I love seeing that sign on the ME bus. I got a pic also from the bus but not as good as yours.

Sounds like your first Disney day is going to be a great one!! Hope your back gets better. My DH & I rode it also & he beat me of course.

My very first TR has started Would love to have you there.