Should I or Shouldn't I....post a trip report? Updated 11/2

[MEK]

I am really torn - trip reports are a lot of work. I enjoy reading others, but I don't know if I have the commitment to post my own. I posted one several years ago, but I can't even begin to figure out how to find it. Maybe someone could tell me how to keep track of my posts. Please

You see - I am not very good with computers. I've never had to be because I don't use them in their full scope for my line of work. I only know how to do the simplest tasks. But I did FINALLY learn how to post pictures on photobucket. So, that is really the impetus for my trip report. I want to post some pics and tell a story.

This is my DS 13 (acutally taken at 12)

This is my DS 15

This is me right before I took the fateful DVC tour which would make my 2008 trip possible. I am also over 40, so note the saggy triceps.

Anyway - I am going to tell the story of my first DVC trip. It was a 9 night trip in early June 2008. We spent 1 night at ASMu, 3 nights at Vero Beach, and 5 nights at SSR. We had a varying cast of characters which included:

ME (over 40 mom)
DH (over 50 dad)
DS 15
DS 13

We were also joined by DH's college roomate and wife who live in Daytona Beach. Plus, we were joined by DS15's friend.

So, late me take a break, check my post and pics, and I'll be back to tell you about how I became a Disney freak and how our first trip home came to be!

 

[KyDerbyMan]

Oh you must! You must!




Congrats on being DVC...I shall be soon.

 

[adsrtw]

I agree! It doesn't matter if you have great computer knowledge or fantastic storytelling skills. A report will be a great way for you to relive the special moments of your vacation. Also, speaking for the many addicts, WDW pics just make us more excited about our own planning.

I can't wait to see more!

 

[MEK]

I actually became a Mickey groupie thanks to my DH. In 2002 he suggested that we take our first family trip to disney. My kids were finishing 1st and 3rd grades and they were about the only kids in their classes who had never been to WDW.

I was hesitant to go. I told my DH that I would probably "hate" Disney. Cringe! Yes - I used the word "HATE". I couldn't imagine loving, or even liking, some place crowded and hot. I was sure it would be super crowded, because that's what people told me. I was sure it would be super hot, because isn't florida supposed to be super hot, especially in the summer?

So, reluctantly, I planned. I don't know if the DIS board existed then. I didn't join for several more years. But I did search the internet like crazy. I did learn that many people preferred onsite over offsite, but since I didn't know the difference, I planned an off site trip. It was 7 nights staying in a Comfort Suites. I had planned the crash course to Orlando - 4 days Disney, 2 days Universal/IOA, and 1 day to see the friends in Daytona. It was supposed to be one of those once in a lifetime trips to Florida.

I learned two things on this trip - 1: I had only barely skimmed the surface of the giant Disney meca, and 2: there was something indescribably magical about Disney - I couldn't quite put my finger on it and I felt this sense of unfinished business - I had to go back!

I learned a couple of other things, too - Orlando wasn't any hotter than the midatlantic region in the summer and I doubted I would ever want to spend a week at crowded Rehobeth Beach again.

Are you sensing that I am going somewhere with this???????

Not surprisingly, we returned to Disney in the summer of 2003. I used the rationale - we have to go back - there is a lot we didn't see yet. That rationale worked. That and the late summer promotion - Pay for 4 nights at an onsite resort and get 3 nights free, plus unlimited park hopping and water parks.

OK - now I was getting it. I started to totally understand why people stayed onsite. The magic was seamless. I don't just want disney at the parks, I want it up until the time I go to sleep at night. Nice room, nice pools, nice landscaping, nice cast members, stacy on the TV - and it was mine, all mine!

We stayed at POR and we had a fantastic time! I seriously think that resort is the perfect first time Disney resort. It holds such fantastic memories for me. I felt so sad and let down when I left that trip. I remember thinking - what the heck is wrong with me?????? I can't freak'n live there. Can I?

In 2004 we went back to Orlando, but this time we stayed at Daytona and Uinversal studios. It was a fun trip, but it just wasn't Disney. Yeah - I was beginning to think that someone was brainwashing me. Was something in the water?????

I realized that I had reached the Disney point of no return at a very unexpected place and time. I remember clearly, in Feb of 2005, floating on my back in an outdoor heated pool in the Canyons, Utah, while little snowflakes danced around my head, thinking......"I really miss Disney and I wish I was there right now" WHAT - EXCUSE ME????? Could you repeat that? Yeah, that's right - I miss Disney. Here I am having a great time in Utah skiing and I miss Disney?????

That's when I decided to give into my addiction and just go for the ride.....

When I return, I will tell you more about my Disney journey to my 2008Welcome Home trip!

 

[MEK]

I must post a couple pics from the Vero Beach part of my stay. Every true Disney addict should spend a couple days here. It has the great Disney hospitality.

The view from our room!

More view

Imagine waking up to this!!!!

 

[TwiddleDeeTwiddleDum]

I am really torn - trip reports are a lot of work. I enjoy reading others, but I don't know if I have the commitment to post my own.....You see - I am not very good with computers. I've never had to be because I don't use them in their full scope for my line of work. I only know how to do the simplest tasks..../QUOTE]



Tuning in.

I feel your hesitation. I too have not posted a TR & because I don't have a digital camera I decided it would be boring without pictures.

Congrats on figuring out how to post your pictures! They look great

P.S. I do not think you look saggy in the least bit....matter of fact you look great

 

[adsrtw]

Beautiful pictures! You are doing great. I can't wait to read more.

 

[bayoumama2]

I am totally new to this, but am quickly becoming obsessed. Your doing a great job and my new goal is to learn how to post pics and want to attempt to do a trip report hopefully while there, but if not, when we return.
We're going 11/22 - 11/29. Haven't been in 10 years. We are so excited. It will be myself, DH, DD20, & DS15

Keep going. I'm enjoying your story.

 

[MEK]

Thanks for tuning in......

Now let's see where was I - oh yeah - in that pool at the Canyons in Utah thinking about my next trip! Not surprisingly I planned a trip for late August 2005. Now for all you historians (disney and otherwise), two very important things happened in late summer 2005. Does anybody remember what? Anybody?????

Well, the first really great thing that happened was.... Ta Da.....The first summer of FREE DINING! My trip was already planned when I got the pin card notice. I jumped at the chance to add free dining to my trip. I quickly became obsessed with ADR's. Eating table service every evening took our Disney trip to a whole new level. We planned a week at CBR right before school was due to start. I got fantastic airfare rates and we had an awesome trip.

The other historial thing that happened during that trip was Katrina. Although we were not directly affected, our hearts broke everytime we turned on the TV in our room. While we were eating enough food for 4 families, we saw people who didn't even have water. It was very sad and it made us really count our blessings.

We returned as a family for a Thanksgiving 2006 trip. I have a coworker who turned me on to the whole DVC thing. She has two contracts with about 400 points and she had a new baby at the time - so the points were available for rent. We planned a week stay at SSR and added the dining plan since I was now an ADR junkie and a disney dining food critic.

After I planned the DVC trip, another round of free dining was announced. Of course, that was too good of an offer to pass up so the kids and I went without DH in August 2006. My DH likes Disney, but one trip a year is all he can manage. So, we asked a friend and her kids to go and we stayed at POP. I learned that a stay at the values with your kids is really a lot of fun. Kids actually like the values because they enjoy all that hustle and bustle. We had a fabulous trip.

Here are some pics of POP and the years my kids were born.

I went back to Disney for one more round of free dining in 2007. I went with DS 13, because my older DS had to start pre season high school soccer. This year, DS 13 started pre season soccer as well. So, needless to say, my days of free dining are over. But to be honest with you, last year was so crowded, I have no regrets. I am happy for all of you who will be partaking, I am just not disappointed I can't.

So ----The changing event that happened to me in 2007 was the DVC tour. My DS and I arrived two night before free dining started. So, we basically had a day to kill with no park tickets. We decided to go to DTD. It was hot and a bit crowded, so we sought refuge in the shade of a DVC kiosk. The rest is history. We were wisked away in a golf cart over to Saratoga for our tour. We had lemonade, cookies, an ice cream sunday, a great tour, and a ride back to our resort. What more could two park ticketless disney junkies ask for.

Here are some pics of DTD that fateful day:

My new home off in the distance

Here's a pic of Chef Mickey's later that evening....

I think he's happy because he knew I wanted to buy DVC. Of course, without my DH there, I was not in the position to purchase that day. But when I returned home we decided to purchase a resale, because the points were cheaper and we knew we wouldn't use it until this summer.

Which just about brings me up to date!

 

[FreFam5]

Great start - I can't wait to read more!!!!

 

[MEK]

I hope no one thinks I am impulsive. I didn't decide to buy DVC because they fed me sundays, cookies, and lemonade. Oh, and because they gave me fast passes. I had actually been considering DVC for about a year or so. I finally decided that I didn't want to be looking for the best code for every future vacation. In addition, I wanted to start staying in some resorts that were considered "deluxe" without breaking the bank. Since my first trip to Disney, I had already watch the price of the mods climb. What would I be doing 10 years from now when I was hooked on the poly????

Of course, I know most Poly fans would never compare SSR to the Poly. They really are two different classes of resorts. But I wanted something with more room and separate sleeping quarters for my kids. Plus, I like the idea of prepaying future vacations. I sold a 1/6 share of a beach house in Dewey Beach a few years back. My profits basically paid for my DVC. I look at it this way - when my kids are in college my DH and I can go anytime of the year we want. We can stay in a studio and keep the points low and hopefully visit all the DVC resorts on site. I really, really want to stay at the Beach Club!

And we almost did on this trip - well at least for one night.

So my trip - well I actually took one 4 night solo trip in Jan before our family trip in June. Solo - yeah, by myself - 4 nights - no DH, no kids. I got super cheap air fare and I was really hoping that I would get to stay DVC, but my points weren't in the bank until after I reached the 45 day mark of a resort stay trip I had previously planned. I didn't want to pay any cancellation fees, so I traveled by myself back to POP for 4 nights in Jan.

Here is the view from my room:

I know I must have been in a preferred room. I was steps from the lobby and food court. It was a sweet spot, but I had terribly noisy neighbors who got home at 2am every morning.

The front of the 70's building where I stayed.

So why did I do a solo trip ----- Well this is a little hard to admit, but now that I am getting older my body is starting to change, or should I say, go through the change. Yes - it is happening to me. I never thought it would, but it's another thing I'm along with for the ride. So, to make a long story short....My sudden shift of hormones precipitated a bit of an anxiety disorder. I suddenly starting having trouble sleeping and I started having panic attacks. Not fun. Definately not fun when traveling. At any rate, I decided that in order to beat these attacks, I needed to face them head on. So I took the plunge and decided to travel by myself. That is a scary proposition when one has trouble sleeping and it prone to panic. Naturally, I planned a trip to my happy place.

My trip was interesting and there were several things I liked about the solo trip. One was that I got to do exactly what I wanted when I wanted. Another was taking the Keys to the Kingdom tour. The next was taking lots of great pictures. The best was becoming an AP holder.

Here is a picture of the teacups. I always wanted to ride the teacups and none of my family would ever ride with me, so I rode by myself. Yeah - just me alone in a teacup. Did I feel a little strange - yeah for a quick second and that was it. Then I spun myself so hard I almost puked. Seriously - just kidding!

Here's some pics of the fireworks. I found a table and waited for the fireworks to start. My family would never do that with me. They would never take the time.

I love fireworks!

Here's a few pictures of the Jungle Jammin Christmas Parade (or whatever it's called). As soon as I hit the resort I hopped on the bus and got to AK in time for the parade. I think it was Jan 5th and the last day of the parade.

SO ANYWAY - I digressed - I am supposed to be telling you about my family trip and instead I told you about the quick solo trip I did. It was basically in preparation for my family trip 6 months later. I was afraid if I went too long between traveling I would be too afraid to go anywhere since my anxiety stuff was messing with me.

Let me close with a few more pics of that trip and the I will start my family trippie!

 

[KyDerbyMan]

Those are great pics!!

 

[MEK]

Tuning in.

I feel your hesitation. I too have not posted a TR & because I don't have a digital camera I decided it would be boring without pictures.

Congrats on figuring out how to post your pictures! They look great

P.S. I do not think you look saggy in the least bit....matter of fact you look great [/QUOTE]

Hey thanks! Digital cameras are awesome. Even though this is our second it has taken me about 3 years to learn how to download and post them.

Now I need to resize them so the trippie is a bit more readable!

 

[MEK]

Those are great pics!!

Thanks KYDerbyMan. I am pleased with how they are looking. I took a lot of them, but in my real trippie we will see my DH's handiwork. He used some crazy settings. I don't know what he was thinking!

 

[TwiddleDeeTwiddleDum]

Your fireworks pics came out great - I'm so impressed!

Keep em' coming

 

[wigdoutdismom]

I'm subscribing. We must be on the same biological clock, same symptoms! I don't think my dh would ever let me go solo though......

 

[adsrtw]

Good for you facing your fears head on! I have had panic attacks in the past and they are not fun. Awesome pics! I'm really enjoyng your report.

 

[MEK]

As I mentioned, we purchased DVC through a resale. If you want instant gratification with DVC, don't do a resale. Our first contract did not pass Disney's Right of first Refusal, meaning Disney essentially bought those points back. The owner of the next contact we bid on did not want to accept our price, so we needed to do a little negotiating. Not too bad. Our points were finally in the bank sometime after last Thanksgiving. I started the process in early September 2007. AS SOON AS THE POINTS were there, I called to make our first reservation. I was at 6 1/2 months out from June and I really wanted to stay at Hilton Head. I'm not sure how I got this idea. Oh yeah - I didn't have my AP yet and I thought a non WDW trip might be a good change of pace.

I'm laughing because I quickly found out that HH is nearly impossible to get in the summer. Gee - Wonder Why??? So I asked about Vero Beach. There were no 1 bedrooms at Vero, so I booked a garden view inn room and waited listed for a 1BR.

If you ever go to Vero and you forget everything else people have told you, remember one thing - You really want an OCEAN VIEW INN ROOM! I had my choice between both, but I'm not a big view person. In other words, having a view of something does not make or break a trip for me. However, once I started reading about Vero on the boards I found out that I should have used the couple extra points to book the ocean view room. Too late! Taking the garden view room was extremely frugal and downright stupid. Oh well - live and learn.

Since I had 3 nights at Vero, I decided that 5 nights at the world would be a good ending to the trip. So I booked 5 nights in a studio at Old Key West. Even with a weekend included in my stay, I was well within my 200 point allotment. I was secretly hoping that I would be able to stretch my points into a second stay at a studio, perhaps during Thanksgiving. I knew my kids weren't going to be happy about sharing a bed in a studio, so my plan was to purchase an aerobed when we arrived. Then I was going to get an Owner's locker to store it.

Ok - so my trip was nearly planned, or so I thought.

Well, one afternoon I got this bright idea. We were due to arrive in Orlando about 5pm on Saturday and drive to Vero on Sunday. What would happen if I did a big point splurge on an Epcot resort for one night?????? Would that be possible????? So I called "Ahhh - I was wondering, do you have a studio available anywhere on Saturday June 7th.... perhaps at the Beach Club Villas?" CM - "Hmmm, let me check"

Tick tock, Tick tock (What am I doing - that is 34 points! )

CM- "Why, yes, I actually do. Would you like to reserve it?"

Me - "YES"

I was super excited about the thought of staying at BCV, even if it was only one night and even though my flight did not get into Orlando until 5pm. I could still see Illuminations and spend the better part of the evening in SAB. Then, I could spend the better part of the morning there before we left for Vero.

Wow - I couldn't wait to tell my DH and kids. Some of the magic was definately lost on them. I don't think they really cared, at least not that much. All my DS 15 kept asking was, "Can't I take a friend?" Gee - well not in a studio, dear.

About 5 or 6 weeks before our trip was scheduled to begin, we started talking to our Daytona Beach friends. We always let them know when we plan to visit Orlando because we usually hook up with them for a day. Our plan was to drive to Daytona for a day to visit them and go to the beach.

Imagine my surprise was our DF said, " I think we'll come to disney for the weekend to see you. Can we stay were you are staying and pay cash for it?"

Our DFs have lived in Daytona for quite awhile. I want to say about 13 years. They have no kids. In 1989 (the year DH and I got married) they left Solomon's Island Md to sail around the world. No lie - the two of them sailed a 42ft sailboat around the world. To this day I am totally amazed that they had the guts and know how to do that. When I was pregnant with DS 15, my DH and I actually spent two weeks with them in New Zealand. They spent 6 months there as part of their amazing adventure. That was one great trip. I wish I had some pics of that, but that was definately pre digital. DH and I also spent a few days in Tahiti on the way home. Very beautiful, but the food was a little scary for consumption while gestating.

Anyway, our DF's have never been to Disney World. They settled in Daytona because they could not stand the thought of returning to the midatlantic region after experiencing so much warm weather for so long. Little by little their family has been moving from NY state to florida. They have friends from all over the US and the've said, "We know so many people who go to Disney World, I guess we need to see it for ourselves" Heck yeah ----- Especially with Florida Resident passes!

I was excited they were going to join us, but now I had some serious replanning to do. There was no way I wanted them to pay cash for a studio for one weekend. I knew they wouldn't understand why a room at Disney costs so much. So I set about rebooking on points.

I called member services and asked if Old Key West had any 2BR's. Nope - "OK what about SSR?" The surprised CM said yes. Wow, she said, someone must have just canceled.

So now we had a 2BR at Saratoga for 5 nights (including a weekend). You do the math. I still can't because it makes my brain hurt. Just give it to me straight - how many points do I have to borrow???????

Well, right after we giantly upgraded to a 2BR ,our waitlist for the 1BR at Vero came through. So for those 8 nights my total point expenditure was 310! Oh - and what about BCVillas? Obviously I canceled that. That was a point splurge I could no longer afford. Just to make a comparison - that one Saturday at BCV would use more points that the 3 weekday nights I have planned at SSR in December.

I was a little worried about using so many points on our first trip. And remember, I already have a bit of a worry disorder. But, by God, I was going on that trip whether I had a panic attack every day for the next 6 weeks!

We had one final addition to our trip. We did allow DS 15 to bring a friend. But - just to the Orlando leg of the trip. His mom was a bit hesistant about having him fly to Orlando himself, but we assured her that we would be waiting for him at the airport when he arrived. We almost weren't But I will tell you about that when the time comes!

Up next - Part I of our trip -VERO Beach! Oh - and where do you think we ended up staying for one night instead of BCV. I'll post a pic and you tell me!

 

[MEK]

Can you tell from this resort window where we stayed?

 

[KyDerbyMan]

Ah.... "music" to my ears to hear about a great Disney trip.