Impatient Disney Fan
Earning My Ears
- Joined
- Sep 22, 1999
- Messages
- 11
My first trip to Disney World was in 1992. I knew nothing about the parks, didn't read a single guide book, didn't have a strategy...but had the time of my life!! I went with a friend, her mom (Cathy) and her little sister (Stephanie). Stephanie was only 5 years old!
Years went by and in 1999, I decided that a family vacation to Disney World in 2000 was the thing to do! I spent MONTHS reading the DIS and other web sites, all the guide books, and planned out our vacation. In June 2000, we (dh, 7 1/2 yr old DS, 2 1/2 yr old DD, and I) flew to Orlando and spent 7 nights at CBR (LOVED IT!). Dh said that was it until DD was older
. BOO HOO!
Cathy and Stephanie, on the other hand, were planning a 2001 excursion to WDW. So after lots of begging and pleading, my wonderful DH said DS (Alex) and I could go
. Thus the planning began...
Originally we were set to stay at the ASMo resort, mainly due to cost. But then we received some info on this site...something about an Upsell! We called and got CSR for only $20 more per night...BUT WAIT...then there was a wonderful special for Indiana Residents! GUESS WHAT!? We got it! So now we were paying LESS than we were originally paying for ASMo!! Too cool!!
Our room was all set...8 nights at CSR, arriving March 30th; departing April 7th. Now we just had to GET there!
We decided to drive due (again) to cost...we were trying to cut corners where we could. Cathy and Stephanie had a planned day with the Dolphins at Dolphin Cove, so they opted for 5 day PHP's. DS and I went with 6 day PHP's. The only other thing we planned was a Specialty Cruise for Tuesday April 3rd.
Everything was set, now we just had to wait! The week before we left, I think Cathy and I were both pretty stressed. The kids had it easy...they just had to go to school. But we had to worry about the packing, errands, etc. It all came together in the end and we were on the road at 4am on Thursday March 29th.
We drove from South Bend, Indiana to Valdosta, Goergia that day!! Stephanie (13 yrs old)was feeling slightly ill for most the day and spent alot of time sleeping. Alex (8 yrs old) spent his time listening to books on tape (Harry Potter), playing with his Gameboy, and playing with his army men. Both did relatively well for sitting in a car all day!!
We arrived in Valdosta at 7:30pm. Cathy and I were very pleased, since we had 30 minutes to check in, bring in our bags, order some food, and settle in to watch Survivor!! I'm so glad we were able to watch it too! To see Jerri's face when she realized that Colby, Tina and Keith had gone against her!!!!! THAT WAS GREAT!! And to see Amber's face when she realized she would be following Jerri soon! HAH!
The next morning we were all up early (excitement!!!!) and stopped by IHOP for breakfast! BIG MISTAKE!! Our waitress was basically an idiot (or having a really bad day, we never did figure it out), the food was not that great and the price was ridiculous! Probably my last meal at IHOP! We were back on the road by 7am and by 10am we were in Kissimee!!
I do not remember what highway we were on (off of I-4), but there was an entrance to Disney right there. Our first objective was to find a WalMart. We stopped at a gas station and I went up to this lady at a little booth outside. She had maps and such of parks and I heard her talking to another lady about park hoppers. Anyhoo, I asked her where the nearest Walmart was...she said we were really far from one! That we should just get what we need at the gas station, it would be easier. I said ok, whatever. And then I asked her about somethign she told the lady in front of me. She told the lady that you could use Plus features at Disney Quest. Alex and I were planning to go to DQ that afternoon, so I was interested. She told me that you could NOT use Plus features on a 5 day PHP for DQ, but you COULD with the 6 or 7 day PHP! I asked again for clarification and even told her that I thought DQ was only available if you did the Ultimate Park HOpper, formerly known as Length of Stay passes. And that you could only purchase those at the parks. She tried to tell me that SHE could sell me PHP's which I could use at DQ! (after I went to a 1 1/2 hour timeshare presentation). NO THANKYOU! I wish I knew what company she was from! Because she was not being real straight with people!
We decided to travel down the road a bit and see if we could find a place to buy water and milk (cheaper than a gas station!). Guess what...after about 10 minutes, we found a WalMart! Geez that was really far!
After picking up our stuff...we headed to WDW! I have to say that Disney does an excellent job with the road signs on property! We had no problems what-so-ever finding CSR! We were all excited about getting checked in and we were really hoping that our room might be ready (it was noon).
Coming up next...Our first look at CSR; Playing at Disney Quest
Faith
May 1992 FW Home
June 2000 CBR
April 2001 CSR
DisneyLand Summer 2002 :-
[This message was edited by Impatient Disney Fan on 04-14-01 at 03:45 PM.]
Years went by and in 1999, I decided that a family vacation to Disney World in 2000 was the thing to do! I spent MONTHS reading the DIS and other web sites, all the guide books, and planned out our vacation. In June 2000, we (dh, 7 1/2 yr old DS, 2 1/2 yr old DD, and I) flew to Orlando and spent 7 nights at CBR (LOVED IT!). Dh said that was it until DD was older
. BOO HOO! Cathy and Stephanie, on the other hand, were planning a 2001 excursion to WDW. So after lots of begging and pleading, my wonderful DH said DS (Alex) and I could go
. Thus the planning began...Originally we were set to stay at the ASMo resort, mainly due to cost. But then we received some info on this site...something about an Upsell! We called and got CSR for only $20 more per night...BUT WAIT...then there was a wonderful special for Indiana Residents! GUESS WHAT!? We got it! So now we were paying LESS than we were originally paying for ASMo!! Too cool!!
Our room was all set...8 nights at CSR, arriving March 30th; departing April 7th. Now we just had to GET there
!We decided to drive due (again) to cost...we were trying to cut corners where we could
. Cathy and Stephanie had a planned day with the Dolphins at Dolphin Cove, so they opted for 5 day PHP's. DS and I went with 6 day PHP's. The only other thing we planned was a Specialty Cruise for Tuesday April 3rd. Everything was set, now we just had to wait! The week before we left, I think Cathy and I were both pretty stressed. The kids had it easy...they just had to go to school
. But we had to worry about the packing, errands, etc. It all came together in the end and we were on the road at 4am on Thursday March 29th. We drove from South Bend, Indiana to Valdosta, Goergia that day!! Stephanie (13 yrs old)was feeling slightly ill for most the day and spent alot of time sleeping. Alex (8 yrs old) spent his time listening to books on tape (Harry Potter), playing with his Gameboy, and playing with his army men. Both did relatively well for sitting in a car all day!!
We arrived in Valdosta at 7:30pm. Cathy and I were very pleased, since we had 30 minutes to check in, bring in our bags, order some food, and settle in to watch Survivor!! I'm so glad we were able to watch it too! To see Jerri's face when she realized that Colby, Tina and Keith had gone against her!!!!! THAT WAS GREAT!! And to see Amber's face when she realized she would be following Jerri soon! HAH!
The next morning we were all up early (excitement!!!!) and stopped by IHOP for breakfast! BIG MISTAKE!! Our waitress was basically an idiot (or having a really bad day, we never did figure it out), the food was not that great and the price was ridiculous! Probably my last meal at IHOP! We were back on the road by 7am and by 10am we were in Kissimee!!
I do not remember what highway we were on (off of I-4), but there was an entrance to Disney right there. Our first objective was to find a WalMart. We stopped at a gas station and I went up to this lady at a little booth outside. She had maps and such of parks and I heard her talking to another lady about park hoppers. Anyhoo, I asked her where the nearest Walmart was...she said we were really far from one! That we should just get what we need at the gas station, it would be easier. I said ok, whatever. And then I asked her about somethign she told the lady in front of me. She told the lady that you could use Plus features at Disney Quest. Alex and I were planning to go to DQ that afternoon, so I was interested. She told me that you could NOT use Plus features on a 5 day PHP for DQ, but you COULD with the 6 or 7 day PHP! I asked again for clarification and even told her that I thought DQ was only available if you did the Ultimate Park HOpper, formerly known as Length of Stay passes. And that you could only purchase those at the parks. She tried to tell me that SHE could sell me PHP's which I could use at DQ! (after I went to a 1 1/2 hour timeshare presentation). NO THANKYOU! I wish I knew what company she was from! Because she was not being real straight with people!
We decided to travel down the road a bit and see if we could find a place to buy water and milk (cheaper than a gas station!). Guess what...after about 10 minutes, we found a WalMart! Geez that was really far!
After picking up our stuff...we headed to WDW! I have to say that Disney does an excellent job with the road signs on property! We had no problems what-so-ever finding CSR! We were all excited about getting checked in and we were really hoping that our room might be ready (it was noon).
Coming up next...Our first look at CSR; Playing at Disney Quest
Faith
May 1992 FW Home
June 2000 CBR
April 2001 CSR
DisneyLand Summer 2002 :-
[This message was edited by Impatient Disney Fan on 04-14-01 at 03:45 PM.]
