Seeing things again for the first time!

[tedhowe]

Pre trip report/background/cast of characters

We are DVC members - have been since my father bought in to Old Key West in 1993. My wife and I honeymooned at WDW and have gone back about every 12-18 months since then - buying our own DVC membership in 2000.

The last trip we took to WDW was in April of 2005. It was with our 2 DDs, then 3 and 6 months old. The day we got back from that trip, I found out my company was being sold! The next 14 months were spent finishing up my job as our corporate office was being closed, and then finding a new job. Once I was in at the new place, I started planning the next Disney trip - for Feb 4 through 10, 2007. It was to be our first real vacation trip in nearly 2 years - not just the first to Disney.

This trip included both sets of grandparents as well as my SIL and BIL and their daughter, who is not quite 2.

With such a large cast, my planning gene had to be put on hold a bit. We planned one big meal together (CRT lunch on the first full day there to celebrate my DD's 5th birthday) and one big event (Wishes fireworks cruise on the last night at WDW to close out the week.)

Everyone was on their own for the rest of the trip and could group together or go solo as seen fit... all understood the ground rules and (as you will see later) and it worked out well.

Four our little foursome (me, DW, DD5, DD2), my DW and I decided that it would not be a commando trip at all. We would do what the girls wanted to do, and try to do some of the "slower" things that we hadn't done in the past (parades, stage shows, etc). In other words... minimal thrill rides.

Okay... enough background. On to the trip report itself.

 

[tedhowe]

Saturday February 3rd

First a day -1 note. We normally pack on the night before a trip. Friday night, I did something to my back and was out of commission, so I couldn't really help with the packing.

Wake up at 6 am. My back feels much better, but we're way behind in getting packed. The AutoTrain will make packing easier because we don't have to worry about fitting everything in, but it will also make things a bit more challenging because we want to fight the urge to bring the kitchen sink.

I want to leave by 9:30 AM because it is a new road trip - I've never driven to the Lorton AutoTrain station before and everything I read says to expect delays, even on weekends, when trying to get through/around D.C. The TomTom says it will take about 3 hours. I want to leave plenty of time for delays and to get lunch before we check in.

We are finally ready to leave at 10AM. We didn't take the kitchen sink, but did take the coffee maker. (DVC resorts have coffee makers, but you have to supply your own filters. Our coffee maker has a permanent filter basket, so we don't buy filters. We'd forgotten to buy any, so it was just easier to take our coffee maker along... score one for convenience of the AutoTrain).

We pull out right at 10AM... ETA on the TomTom is 1PM. We're supposed to check in by 2, so that should be fine.

The drive down is uneventful, and FAST. There is no traffic to speak of, and I realize that the TomTom has average speeds on Route 1 in southeastern PA and northern Maryland at WAY below reality. By the time we pick up I-95 just north of the Susquehanna river, our ETA is down to 12:40.

Along the way, we pick up about another 15 minutes - the average speed on the D.C. beltway is rediculous. We were being passed by a lot of cars, and when I looked down, I was doing about 83 MPH!

We exit in Lorton at 12:25PM... plenty of time to get lunch and head back by the 2PM deadline.

After lunch, we head for the train station and we SIT. For some reason, the line isn't moving. We're out on the street sitting in a line of cars heading for the train and we're STUCK. We move all of 50 feet in 20 minutes. Eventually, the line starts to move, and we get through to where we drop off our van. The northbound train had been delayed by the tornadoes in Florida the day before, and they were very late starting to load cars onto the train.

Still, we are able to check in and wait for the call to board the train. My vacation really starts once I turn over the keys to the van... nothing left to worry about.

We board the train and get into our family bedroom... we like the accomodations, and DD4 (soon to be 5) is excited about the idea of sleeping in the upper kid's bunk. The girls play with some toys, DW and I each get out a book to read and at about 4:15, the train pulls out of Lorton station - not bad considering how delayed the loading was.

We have the first dinner seating - 5PM. The food is pretty good - better than airline food by far. I'd say about as good as average local diner fare. It's cooked fine, but is obviously mass produced and seems to have been sitting under a heat lamp for too long. My steak and my wife's salmon are definitely well done... and we prefer both dishes on the rare side. But it is much better than rest stop food, and driving ourselves.

After dinner we head back to our compartment. The girls watch a movie (Cinderella) while we do some more reading. At 8PM, we ask the car attendant to set up the beds. The girls are very excited... something that would become very apparent as we try to calm them down for sleep. It just isn't happening, they feed off of each other and keep each other awake. The newness of train travel, combined with birthday/vacation anticipation are too much for them. Finally, mercifully, at about 10:30, they drift off to sleep.

Sleep for the adults is not very good, though. With the 4 of us in the 6' by 9' compartment, it's very close quarters. Later we compare notes and decide that it was very much like going camping in our single room tent... hard for everyone to get to sleep. The only thing is... on the train, it's as if someone comes and shakes our tent every few minutes as we bounce along the poorly maintained rails of CSX.

End of Day 0 - Vacation really gets going on Day 1

 

[tedhowe]

Sunday 12/4 - Arrival and Grace's Birthday (Super Bowl Sunday)

When we awoke from our much too short night of sleep on the AutoTrain, we heard the announcement that we were about 1.5 hours behind schedule. Not a huge deal, since we would be VERY early for a room at OKW anyway.

After breakfast on the train, we went back to our compartment and gave Grace her birthday present. I had found a GREAT deal on a nice little Kodak digital camera. Grace has been interested in taking photographs for a couple of years already, and we've supervised her with our Canon digital Elph. She loves taking photos and so when I found a Kodak camera and printer bundle for just $60, I couldn't resist. It's a decent little 4 megapixel camera - not as small as our Canon, but still small and light enough that Grace can use it easily. She was very excited and wanted to use it right away. After some photo and video sessions, we all got dressed and packed up our things in anticipation of our arrival.

We got into the station in Sanford right about 10 AM, and after departing the train, we waited in the cool Florida air for our car. It took about 1 hour before our car was unloaded, and by about 11:15 we were on our way on the last leg of the journey.

We arrived at OKW check in just after noon. The CM checking us in asked about the notation of a birthday in our party, to which Grace piped up and informed the CM that it was her birthday. The CM at the next check in station was not busy (and was very talented). She proceeded to make a baloon animal flower and a Birthday button up for Grace, who was beaming at the small bit of extra attention.

Our rooms were not ready, so we decided to head to Olivia's for lunch. We had a GREAT server (John) who was willing to work with us on some special food needs for my wife, and made sure to give Grace some extra attention for her birthday as well. (I had been a bit nervous about making special requests for my wife's food needs, but found that the servers at all the restaurants were very gracious and accomodating)

After lunch, John brought out a piece of cake and led the restaurant in a round of "Happy Birthday". For Grace it was a very happy birthday indeed.

After lunch, Kathy made a couple of calls to other members of our party to determine when they would be arriving, and then we called to see if the rooms were ready. They were (and it was only about 1:45) so we packed the kids into the car and headed for building 48. We had a handicapped accessible 3 bedroom grand villa and a HA 2 BR lockoff (units 4815 and 4810/4811).

In general the units were in very good condition and we had no complaints on check in.

As the rest of the group arrived, we busied ourselves with unpacking while the girls watched some Disney channel. Dinner that night consisted of Super Bowl munchies in the villa (chicken wings, cheese/fruit tray, chips and salsa, etc).

We had a reservation for Cinderella's Royal Table the next day for lunch, and we wanted to get the girls new Princess Dresses so we headed to World Of Disney for a shopping trip shortly before half time of the game. I had hoped WoD might be a bit less crowded than normal because of the Super Bowl, but no such luck. The place was a madhouse as usual. We found the section of princess dresses and Joy took to an Ariel dress (predictable), while Grace found the Tinkerbell outfit to be her dream dress. They each got a light-up magic wand and one other accessory to go with the dress (Joy got a tiara and Grace some pixie dress-up slippers), new autograph books and pens rounded out the purchase for the night and we dropped WAY more than I had expected on this little shopping excursion, but it's hard to resist how cute they looked in their new dresses.

We got back to the villa in time to see the 4th quarter of the game (Go Colts!). The girls then went up to their room, and we got the first truly priceless picture of the week - Joy was asleep in her bed with the princess tiara on - a wonderful photo and memory. (Only later did we find out that Grace had put the tiara on Joy after Joy was already asleep, but it's still a wonderful photo)

With the day's excitement behind us, we turned in ourselves. We were anticipating the next day in the Magic Kingdom and our meeting with Cinderella herself.

 

[tedhowe]

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[Marla Hellwig]

Any More?????????