Our first DVC Adventure!

[Guzzi]

On July 9 we will embark on our first DVC vacation to Animal Kingdom Lodge

The Cast of Characters;
Me; Husband to my wonderful loving wife and father to two great
kids

DW; the wonderful wife; I get the ideas and she
makes the decisions, it has worked pretty well for almost 21
years, I mentioned DVC to her and it was over we were in

Dtr; 17, growing up way too fast, extremely intelligent and talented
she sings like an angel and we can't figure out where her
talent comes from. She will ride any ride and at least try anything to eat,
which makes her alot of fun in new resturants with food like escargot

S; 12 pluto is his favorite character, he is the
smartest of us all, im just waiting for him to concentrate a little more
on school work and a little less on absolutely everything else. Like
his sister he is very talented and a very good athlete

We have two special add ons for our trip this time; we have never vacationed with anyone else before and this will make for an interesting twist to the world for me. They have been to disney once before but never with us and they have never been subjected to my attack plans for the parks

SisinLaw: a guidance counselor who tries to fix everyone, I
wont let her try to work on me, it might kill her
Niece:rincess: almost 12 like my son and a wonderful kid.

We leave in a little more than a month from now, and will be driving to the world for the first time. We are starting in Syracuse NY on the 9th of July and will be taking the Route 81 to 77 to 26 to 95 route to the world. Everything I have read on the boards seems to show that this route is nicer and has less traffic than the 81 to 476 to 95 route. We get to skip philly, DC and beach traffic, The trip tik says it is about 40 minutes longer but over two days thats not a big deal

We will all be stuffed in My SisinLaw's Minivan for the marathon drive but after a 15-16 hour drive on day one, we will only have about a 3-4 hour drive on day two and if we get up early (no ifs about it) after a quick breakfast in the hotel, I plan to be on the road 20 minutes after the hotel serves the comp breakfast , might take a little longer, and it will be off to the world.

The plan is to drop us off at AKL villas and then my SIL and Niece will check into thier time share and meet us at the villas for lunch, then its the parks

 

[Disney9.9.10]

Congrats on buying DVC!! So exciting! And staying at Kidani - we are going to be there in August for the first time, and I am super excited! Looking forward to reading about your trip!

 

[Guzzi]

We have our trip planned out. Im pretty big on planning and learned alot here on the Disboards


My first issue is how to pack the minivan. One would think that there is a lot of luggage room in a mini van but when you have to use all three rows of seats, the room is kinda sparse. I hoping one bag (med size soft sided)for my sis in law and neice and the same size bag for my wife and Dtr plus a duffle type bag for my son and i that i can stuff on top of the other two in the back will fit in the van. I have to experiment with the seats in the van to see how far forward the two back rows can slide forward to get a little more space in the back i hope

I want to avoid using a luggage bag on the roof as there are no roof racks on the van and it will kill already bad gas milage. Anyone with packing tips for 6 people in one vehicle, let me know how you did it

Day one
With luck we will make it to WDW sometime around lunch on Sunday the 10th. We will get dropped off at AKLvillas and check in and my Sisinlaw will go check into her time share.

The plan is for them to return and we will have lunch at either AKL or at Epcot. Its traditional our first day, really a half day even when we fly, is spent at Epcot. More to walk around the world and eat not really for the rides, Love the whole fast pass thing and utilize it almost exclusivly to ride the better attractions, so will probably save the big ticket rides, soaring and fast track for our second day at epcot. Mission space never seems to have a long line and my son loves it so we will probably hit that, maybe spacship earth too.

We are having dinner at Tokyo dinning, i(we have never been there, and i know it has had mixed reviews but we are really looking forward to it) its my wife's birthday and im gonna call disney to see about having a cake for her after dinner.

Post dinner, more of the world and illuminations to end the nite

 

[Guzzi]

Day 2, our first full day in the world! we will be heading to the Magic Kingdom for breakfast at Crystal Palace. Another family tradition is hitting MK for breakfast before the park opens, 8:05 ressie, (i think, might be 8:10) I just love heading into the park "early" and getting to walk up main street without the crowd of people running to space mountain. Its a great time to take pictures of the family with the castle, with a photo pass and then ask the nice cm to use our phone to take pics too

I am not a big breakfast eater except for those few times a year when we have a buffet breakfast in the world and then I almost overdose on bacon! its the only time of year i eat it and I make up for lost time

After pigging out, I run ahead with the KTTW cards and secure FPs for space mountain while the family plus 2 stoll along behind, take pictures and meet me at Buzz LIghtyear for our first ride. After buzz its usually the laugh floor or that people mover thing up the stairs, My son wont go on the astro obiter (a least not yet) so I have never been on it, my Dtr has though. after we hit these rides and find stich signing autographs, its usually time to hit Space mountain.

Once thats done im off and running to get FP's for BTMRR while the family stolls alongs and shops, I think this year we will meet at the haunted mansion to experience the new line and ride the ride.

We then play it by ear, maybe hit pirates (love the airconditioned line, a half hour or so on it is just what I need by this time in the park in July or wait on line at the jungle curise before I can get FPs for splash mountain

We try to eat an early lunch and almost always eat at pecos bills cause we end up back there. when lunch is over we use our fps for btmrr and splash and its time to think about heading back to AKLv for the pool for the afternoon. On the way out Ill grab Fps for Space mountain cause later at night btmrr is usually pretty short lines. dont mind missing the afternoon parade. Usually ive been able to grab fps for a second ride that I save for the evening too. moped:i do a lot of running around the parks, gotta work off that bacon)

Dinner will be counter service someplace in MK, Im rooting for the baseball place for a couple of hot dogs, I've heard that they are good, but have never eaten them, then a slow evening of a ride or two and shopping, hoping to convince the crew to have an early night as we have ressies for the dessert party to watch the fireworks on our last evening at the world.